War of the Forces
by James Denton
Summary: New Characters, New Worlds, New Story


STAR WARS - War of the Forces  
  
Prologue  
  
A long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away.   
The time is thirty years after the Battle of Endor. The Empire is no more, and the Galaxy is ruled by the New Republic, which is based on the city-planet of Coruscant. The Jedi population is growing larger every day, and many young adults are becoming Jedi Knights, and then grow to become Jedi Masters. But there are some that begin their training at too old an age. There are some that don't finish their training. There are some whose lives are overtaken by grief and anger. These are the Jedi who turn to the Dark Side of the Force, and become Sith Lords. One such person is Darth Dredian, the apprentice of the evil master, Darth F'ror, who lives on a small planet, called Gruesk in the Unknown Regions of the Galaxy. Little does the New Republic know what evil plans the Sith Master and his apprentice have in mind.   
  
Chapter 1 - A New Hope  
  
Six tiny, tanned, winged, predators, known as Giroodas sat in Beggar's Canyon and chewed at the tough flesh of a large, dead bantha, pulling the red muscle out from the carcass with their long, sharp beaks. Every so often they would each look up, monitoring for danger or predators and pricking up their small, pointed ears.   
A tall, diagonal shadow passed along the side of the canyon and the figure owning it moved closer towards the little scavengers at a slow pace. Still, the Giroodas flew away from their meal as soon as the individual was no more than ten metres away from the bantha corpse. They landed on the edge of the canyon and each looked down at the 'thing,' turning their heads as it moved further down the canyon and passed the bantha.   
  
Twel Lii walked out of the massive, brown Sand Crawler and stepped on to the hot desert sands of Tatooine, heated by the blistering Twin-Suns. He was a Jawa. Jawas were small, smelly, intelligent, rodent-like natives who scavenged the deserts and street alleys looking for abandoned junk and hardware. They wore brown robes covering most of their metre-high bodies, but their glowing eyes were still visible through the dark hood. They understood the basic language used by humans, but much preferred to use their own.   
Twel looked down long Beggar's Canyon, a twisty, maze-like group of rocky trenches that were home to thousands of mysterious creatures. He could see a tall shadow approaching him like a scary beast. It rippled along the bumpy rim of the canyon, until the possessor of the shadow was revealed. A scruffy, brown-haired man dressed in black, cotton trousers, a white T-shirt and a blue waistcoat walked up to him with his eyes squinted. Twel Lii put his hand by his side getting ready to pull out his small Jawa blaster if the need called for it.   
"Do you sell any droids?" the man asked him in a young voice. Twel looked around cautiously for any other humans. This tall person didn't look too dangerous, so he assumed everything was safe and then signaled for the man to come into the Sand Crawler, a large, brown, square, rusty vehicle, which was home to many other Jawas like himself. It had been used by their species for decades and was stored with all sorts of old junk and machinery.   
The man had never met a Jawa before and knew not if he should do as it said, but he had heard that inside the massive Sand Crawler were thousands of robots and computers, some of which could be vital to him.   
He followed it up the open ramp leading to the main halls and just as he had hoped, there were loads of dusty, metal Droids gathered together in a big crowd. Some were switched on and others were not and there was a huge amount of dust in the air that made a slight fog.   
"How many of these have you actually got?" he asked as he looked around the large room in amazement. "There's hundreds!"   
More Jawas came in through another large door leading to an even bigger room. One of them - not Twel Lii - gave a few squeaks and strange sounds, which the man could understand as 'What is your name?' He could understand many different languages used around the Galaxy, most of which he had never needed to use before, but was probably best at speaking in Huttese, a widely used dialect on Tatooine.  
"Who me?" he asked. "Nevin Karr. I'm here to buy a Droid."   
The Jawas looked at each other suspiciously, as they were very cautious and distrustful of humans, but still sold what they could to them. "Can I have a look around?"   
They began to look at each other as if they were having a conversation with their minds and soon they began to nod, as if they had reached an agreement.   
"Is that a yes?" Nevin asked. They nodded again and Nevin presumed it was alright to do as he had asked. He slowly studied the Droids as he walked around with the little creatures staring at him carefully. There were all sorts. Most of them were Protocol Droids, but some were Info Droids, some were Medical Droids, some were Defender Droids, and some were Droids that Nevin just didn't recognize. Some of them stared evilly at him, as though he was an enemy or an intruder, but most of them ignored him all together.   
"Do you have any robots that I can use for my ship?" he asked as he looked back at the people. "I'm a pilot and I need a Droid to tell me how much damage the ship has taken, tell me where the nearest locations are, store important information, etcetera, etcetera."   
The Jawas stared at each other in complete confusion. They were beginning to get slightly suspicious of this strange character and one of them slowly reached for their blaster.  
"An Astromech Droid," Nevin said as he waved his hand around. "Have you got one or not?" The Jawa reaching for its weapon paused. They seemed a little bit more familiar with what Nevin said, but still didn't quite understand.  
"You know the kind I mean, don't you? G25 Droids, D4 machines, R2 units, HE appliances?"   
Twel looked at the others and mumbled a few little words to them. The leader nodded its head and said something Nevin still couldn't quite hear, but he managed to make out the words, 'no,' 'none' and 'left.' Twel turned back and shook his little head, obviously saying 'no.' Nevin groaned and said, "Ah, great. I come all the way through Beggar's Canyon just to try and find you little guys and ya don't even have what I'm looking for... Are you sure there are absolutely no Astromech droids?"   
The Jawas all nodded and squeaked a few times. Nevin breathed out through his nose in a complaint. "See ya then. I'm going back to the city." He turned around walked down the brown, rusty ramp and headed back to Beggar's Canyon. The Jawas squeaked at each other and got back to work; they didn't mind that they hadn't sold anything, as they were already high on money. They sold things every day.except today.   
Nevin had been looking for an Astromech Droid for quite a few weeks, but had had no luck. He lived on the outskirts of Mos Eisley near the Mos Eisley Cantina where he'd usually hang out. He would get into many fights now and then, all of which he won. In fact, he won them all very quickly and with great ease. This was because he was a Jedi.   
He used to be a Jedi Apprentice, but he quit because he felt he wasn't cut out for the job. His tutor, a Jedi from Corellia, called Dale-Mree Jinn was disappointed at his decision, because he was a very good student. This all happened about four months ago and he still owned many of his old weapons. Afterwards he became a pilot working for a Kindrel named Jumbilba. He owned a small, fast, streamline, blue spacecraft, which he'd originally made as a gift for his brother, but he died of a disease only hours before Nevin was about to give it to him. Nevin had flown before, but only to very close places like Kessel and Zhar, as it was illegal to fly more than one hundred million miles without an Astromech Droid. After he'd get one he planned to travel the Galaxy in search for adventure. It sounded a sad and pointless thing to do, but he loved action. Had he stayed a Jedi Apprentice he probably would have got a dose of more action than he'd ever dreamed of, but he still believed he wasn't cut out for it.  
He slowly walked down the canyon looking at the dusty ground when he suddenly heard the sound of screaming and gunshots. His first guess was that it was Tusken Raiders.   
He peered around the nearest rocky corner of the canyon and just as he had thought, it was Tusken Raiders. They were also known as Sand People, and they were feared throughout the wastes of Tatooine. The nomadic people wore cloth and strips of bandage around their face as well as a breathing apparatus to filter the dust and sand in the hot, muggy air. Their faces were unseen and they saw through protruding eye filters. Only in the privacy of their tents could Raider mates see each other's faces beneath their wrappings and few sentient beings had actually seen what one looked like.   
They were like aliens, crash-landed on a dangerous planet having to survive on their own without help or communication from the Humans or Jawas and spoke in a strange, unintelligible language of laughs and screams.   
For transport they used big, furry, four-legged, horned animals called banthas, and their main weapon was the spear-like gaffi stick, but they had been seen using rifles and other guns. This was one such time.  
Nevin could see what looked like a battle between two gangs of the Tusken Raiders. One group used gaffi sticks, while the other used carbine rifles. Nevin desperately didn't want to be seen, as Tusken Raiders were aggressive and afraid of almost nothing. Krayt dragons were probably the only things that were capable of making one run away.   
Nevin didn't know his way around Beggar's Canyon very well; he only knew the way that he was going to use to get to Mos Eisley, but it was blocked by the Raiders. He could see some other ways that he could go, but he had no idea where they led.   
He finally decided to take one on the left, hoping it would still somehow lead him to Mos Eisley. He ran quickly across the point where all the canyons crossed and had almost made it unseen, but he suddenly heard a scream that sounded as though it meant 'Look! There's an intruder! Kill him!'   
He looked behind him and saw practically all the Tusken Raiders running towards him with their weapons in their hands. It seemed rather strange that such clever people with talents for surviving a lifetime on a hot desert planet would just give up a battle between one another just to kill an intruding human. Perhaps they were actually the same group of Raiders, but they'd just split up to have a training battle against each other.   
Nevin wasn't quite sure of an explanation for these questions and he didn't much care. He just ran as fast as he could down the dark, narrow canyon, hoping not to be killed. Hundreds of bullets fired near his feet and some went straight past his head. Gaffi sticks were thrown at him from what seemed like every direction, and the Raiders were catching up with him very fast. The canyon took a sharp turn to the left, which was where he didn't want to go: it led away from Mos Eisley.   
He was out of breath and his tongue hung out from his mouth, whereas the Raiders were still running after him and didn't seem to be puffed out at all. He began to slow down and the Raiders began to speed up, but he remembered that if they caught him he would be killed, so he tried to speed up again. It was just like a race, except his life depended on him winning. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and put as much effort into running as he could.  
"C'mon, Nevin!" he said, trying to encourage to himself. "Use the Force! Keep running and don't stop!"   
Unfortunately this was a task way too hard for him to do. He slowed down and dropped himself onto the hard, dusty ground, face down. He closed his eyes and waited for the Raiders behind him to stab him with their sticks and shoot him with their guns. It didn't happen.   
He waited longer... Still didn't happen. He lifted his head and looked behind him, only to find that the Raiders were running in the other direction. Were they scared of him or something?  
"Why the hell are they running away from me?" he said relieved. "I thought the only thing they were scared of were krayt drag - Uh oh."   
He turned his head and looked ahead of him. Sure enough, it was a massive, horned, brown-green krayt dragon stepping slowly toward him.  
Krayt dragons came in all different shapes and sizes, but no matter how one looked it could easily scare any human being away. Although they were afraid of them, Tusken Raiders tried to hunt them for their pearl scales, but were usually eaten in a quick gulp.   
The one in front of Nevin had large, evil, orange eyes that were staring straight at him in a way that kind of.discomforted him. It was about fifteen metres long, seven metres high and approximately twenty metres away from him. Would he have enough time to get up and quickly run away? He didn't actually know how fast it could move, but if he didn't move he'd be dead pretty soon. He shuffled himself backward slowly, keeping his eyes on the dragon. He pushed the top half of his body up with his arms very, very slowly. It was at that moment that the dragon began to walk quite quickly toward him.  
"Right," he said to himself as he got up. "Run!" He got up and ran in the other direction not once looking behind him. Not surprisingly, the dragon was faster than he was and it was catching up with him fairly easily.   
"This is not my day," he said, as he ran as fast as he could along the canyon. He knew the dragon would catch up with him eventually, so he needed a plan. He thought for a while, but then he suddenly heard something quite loud heading towards him. As it came closer he could see the outline of a big, long-necked animal through the fog.   
The dragon behind him was so close that its nose was only about a metre away from him. It would not be long before he would be chewed up and swallowed.   
The other animal was one he was familiar with. He noticed that it was a friendly ronto, a reptilian herbivore, which the Jawas rode into town. There was just one Jawa on its back and it just happened to be Twel Lii. Twel ordered the large ronto to stop, turn around and slowly trot the other way, so that Nevin could jump on and it could run away from the dragon without being bitten or injured in any way. While Nevin was running, Twel got out his Jawa blaster and fired a few shots at the dragon to slow it down. Nevin was at the back of the ronto and the dragon's mouth was right near him. It was about to snap its jaws and kill him, but he managed to make a heroic dive on to the ronto's tail. He hugged the tail as tight as he could, trying to stay on as the ronto waved it about while it ran.   
It was very fast and the dragon soon gave up and stopped.  
"Phew!" gasped Nevin. "That was the closest I have ever got to dying!" He strained hard and climbed up the tail to get onto the saddle that Twel was sitting on. Twel squeaked and hooted a few times, saying, 'Are you alright?"  
"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Nevin. "Thanks, little buddy. You saved my life." He was very lucky to be alive and although he had been right in saying that that was the closest he had ever got to death, there would be more days in which he would get even closer.   
It was getting very dark and he certainly didn't fancy going back through Beggar's Canyon to Mos Eisley, so the Jawas offered him to stay in the Sand Crawler for the night.   
He asked how Twel knew he was in trouble and was told that he heard the loud commotion between the Tusken Raiders and was worried that Nevin may have been involved. He set out on his ronto and looked through the canyons where he found him being chased by a krayt dragon.   
Once in the Sand Crawler he was taken through some small corridors to a large room with a massive table, laid with hundreds of plates with a small stick on each one, obviously the Jawas' version of a fork. There were seats on each side of it and most of them were occupied by other Jawas talking while waiting for their dinner to be served. There was actually a remarkably lively atmosphere and Nevin felt very cosy as he sat down at the table. He spoke to his little friends about his adventures while training on Yavin 4 and they also told him stories of how they had managed to become such a rich group of people.  
Soon, about twenty Jawas came out from a steamy room with buckets in their hands. They began to scoop out blobs of a thick, yellow substance and dropped them onto each of the Jawas plates, one by one. When Nevin was given some he looked at the others while they began to scoff down their food like animals and then looked down at his own. He was absolutely starving, but he wasn't sure if it was safe to eat. After some careful thinking he said to himself, "Ah, what the hell," and began to stuff the slimy goo into his mouth. His eyes began to water after he realised how terribly revolting it was and he had a hard job finishing the meal.   
He was later treated to a glass of refreshing water. He felt the cool liquid flow down his throat and into his stomach as he gulped it down within seconds.   
The time soon came when he had to rest and he slept in a massive, dark room where all the other Jawas stayed. It was hard getting to sleep, as the beds were only a metre long, but eventually he managed. But although the day was over, the adventure was not. Nevin still had a lot more interesting things to cope with tomorrow.  
  
Chapter 2 - Commencement of a Journey  
  
Meanwhile, on the purple, oily planet of Gruesk in the Unknown Regions of the Galaxy, Darth F'ror sat on his large, spiky throne in his Death Palace. The palace was absolutely massive. It was about three million square-miles in area and two hundred metres in height, making it look more like a gigantic city than an actual palace. It was made of dark, evil marble on the outside, but was fairly pleasant on the inside and was home to all of the Sith Lords in the Galaxy.   
It was white in Darth F'ror's Throne Room and he kept both his red lightsabres in a small rack next to the left arm of his throne.   
Lightsabres were a sword-like weapon used by the Jedi, the Sith and a few other different type of people. When not being used it was just a short, cylindrical piece of metal, but once it is switched on it gave off a long beam of hot light, which could burn through virtually anything, except for the blade of another lightsabre. Most people used only one, but there had been known to be Sith Lords who used double-sided ones.   
Darth F'ror used two at once and he was unbeatable. That was why he had been chosen to be the secret king of the Sith, and he was plotting evil things every day of his life. He wore a black cloak, tight metal armour, and a mask helmet, which covered his disfigured face. The helmet had two long, wooden horns protruding from the top that had been polished to make look shiny. It had a black strip of translucent foam that was what he saw through and a small breathing hole that had been covered up with black cloth, so that no one could see inside it.   
His apprentice, Darth Dredian wore black, loose, blama-skin clothing and black, knee-high boots. He was only about thirty-five years of age, but he had long, straight hair that was as silver as, well, silver. A scar went down the right side of his face and his left ear was pierced at the lobe with a little golden ring hanging from it.   
He had never actually seen what Darth F'ror looked like without his helmet on. In fact, no one had. He only took it off when he was sleeping in his royal chambers, just like Darth Vader had, thirty years ago.  
"Master," said Darth Dredian, as he approached him. "I have found the location of Luke Skywalker's Second Jedi Academy. It's on Yavin 4."  
"Good, good," said Darth F'ror in a low voice. He tapped his fingers on the arm of his throne while stroking the head of his small, black, pet, baby random beast, an evil, skinny creature with blade-sharp teeth and blood-red eyes. "Go there immediately with ten of my other Sith Lords. Overtake the building and find out the locations of every Jedi that has been taught there. It will also have the references from every other Academy in the Galaxy, so we will know the homeworlds and locations of every single Jedi. Then I can send out billions of my best men to capture the Jedi population. After that has been finished I have another job for you."  
"Are sure you don't want the Jedi population dead, my lord?" suggested Darth Dredian as he smiled evilly. "They would be completely out of the way of our plans."  
"No," answered Darth F'ror in a calm tone. "If we capture them all, take them to the Underground Kingdom, and lock them up we could hold them hostage. The New Republic is helpless without the Jedi to protect them and they will do anything to set them free."  
"As you wish, my lord," agreed Darth Dredian disappointed. "I will not fail you."   
"Of course you will not fail me," agreed Darth F'ror as he pointed at him. "You are my best apprentice yet, and once I die it will be you sitting on this very throne. I know that we can both take over this Galaxy together. Now go." Darth Dredian turned away and stepped out of the room in a military-like walk, the one he always used. He and ten other Sith Lords soon left the Death Palace in X-Wings that had been stolen from the Rebels many, many years ago.   
  
Meanwhile, back on Tatooine, Nevin had just woke up and was eating fried pevver rat for breakfast. It wasn't a particularly nice meal, but he was so hungry that it made no difference to him. He wiped his mouth clean with his sleeve and stood up, ready to make an announcement.  
"Thank you, Jawas," he shouted to them all. "You've been really kind letting me stay here and eat. Your food was.err.lovely and I'll certainly recommend that pevver rat thing to all good food stores. I, err, have realised that you little guys don't really deserve to have a reputation for being annoying, smelly, little pests, as you're, uh, alright. Seeing as I wouldn't have survived if you hadn't have saved me it seems that I owe you a life-debt. I'll certainly try to pay you back someday, if that's possible and I'll keep in touch with you.hopefully.maybe.possibly.not likely.   
"Unfortunately I must now go back to Mos Eisley through." he gulped ".Beggar's Canyon. See ya later." Twel Lii ran in front of him and said, translated, "No! I'll take you there on a ronto."  
"What?" said Nevin as he stopped. "Are you sure you don't mind going all the way to Mos Eisley just to take me there? It's a long, long way ya know."   
Twel said he was going to the city anyway, as he needed to get a few items. They both mounted a ronto, which stayed in a stable in the Sand Crawler, and left for Mos Eisley. The ronto was quite fast for such a big, fat animal such as itself. Twel and Nevin didn't speak on the way. They just sat and waited as the ronto galloped along the desert, which winded around Beggar's Canyon and ended at Mos Eisley. The wind was very calm today and the Twin-Suns were covered by a group of massive clouds, making it a cool, better place to be. It was a shame that it couldn't be like this all the time.   
They reached the city eventually and Nevin clumsily slid down the side of the ronto's belly, headfirst onto the floor.   
"Thanks, Twel," he said as he got up and rubbed his head. "I'll just walk from here." Twel shook the reins and the ronto moved forward. He waved to Nevin for the last time and went further into the busy streets of Mos Eisley.  
Nevin had loads of cash on him, so he decided to have a drink at the Cantina on the way home. It was a lively, bar-like area full of aliens from around the Galaxy: Humans, Bothans, Bimms, Wookies, Mon Calamari, Dugs, Ithorians, Fleelas, Hutts, Toydarians, T'fawns Gungans, Dussa, Malastarians, Jawas, Moochers, Rodians, Selonians, Kindrels, Vors, Duros, Chevins, Gamorreans, Drall, Twi'leks, Bith, Trandoshans, Anzati, Jardalars, Talz, Quarren, Beedans and hundreds of others. Because of the huge amount of customers that visited, it had been made a lot, lot bigger and now it had an area of about one hundred metres square. Despite this its ceiling was still as low as it had been before, so it was hard to see from one side of the room to the other.   
It was busy - as usual - when Nevin arrived and there were bound to be loads of fights. Whether he would be involved in one of them was unknown, but he had only came here for a drink. The times that made people begin to go crazy and try to attack him were when he won a betting game against them, so he was unlikely to have a skirmish today.   
He sat at one of the many stools by the side of the long, long bar and ordered an Ithorian cloud-cocktail, one of the most expensive drinks in the Cantina. It was made from sour, yellow, pir-flower nectar mixed with the clear water of the Falls of Dessiar. As Nevin took a sip from the cone-shaped glass he had been given he managed to wash away the taste of the pevver rat he had eaten that morning. He had only bought the drink a couple of times before and it was one of the most beautiful pieces of matter that had ever gone down his throat.   
While he drank he watched as two scruffy men about twenty feet away began to punch and kick at each other rapidly. They both looked like great fighters as they somersaulted over each other and performed stunts that could only be accomplished by people trained in martial arts. There were only a few people that actually stopped what they were doing to watch the battle, as most of the customers came to the Cantina regularly and had seen it all before.  
"You ever seen such good fightin'?" said a very low, lazy voice. Nevin looked to his left to see a big, muscular man with three-day stubble sitting next to him.  
"Yes," Nevin answered. "As a matter of fact, I have. Who are you?"  
"You ain't never even seen me before?" the man asked as he gave Nevin a suspicious look. "I'm Yiord Porkins, the best gambler this Galaxy has ever seen!"  
"Well I'm Nevin Karr. Pleased to meet you."  
"The pleasure's all mine, kid. Say, would you like to play a game of roll-bow?"  
"Not now that you've told me you're the best gambler in the Galaxy, no. Besides, I only came here for a drink. Nothing else."  
"Oh go on! It'll only take a couple of minutes."  
"No thanks. I've gotta get home."  
"Why, son? What's the hurry?"  
"Nothing much."  
"Then stay here and have a game with me. You could win twice the amount of money that's in your pocket right now."   
Nevin looked at his watch and thought to himself, "One game will be alright."  
"Alright then," he said. "You got us a table?"  
"Sure have, err, what did ya say your name was?"  
"Nevin. I'm only staying for one game, though. That's all."  
"Yeah, yeah, sure thing."  
Two hours had passed. So far, Nevin and Yiord had had twenty games of roll-bow, a short game, in which each player picked a certain amount of coins from a jar and had to lay one down and beat another set of coins that had already been put down for the opponent. Nevin had won only one game and in the others he had lost a thousand credits, his chain necklace, his silver ring and a lucky charm (something that Yiord certainly didn't need).  
"Okay," said Yiord with a half-smile on his face. "I'll give you a chance to get all your stuff back."  
"No, no," answered Nevin immediately. "As much as I need it I know that you'll beat me again. I don't have much to offer you anyway."  
"Have ya got a ship?"  
". Yeah. But surely you're not into spacecraft?"  
"Are you kiddin' me? Of course I am! My father, mother and uncle were all great pilots from Bestine! Ya know, my father helped the Rebels destroy the first Deathstar during the Battle of Yavin."  
"You're dad was one of the Rebels?"  
"Sure was. He died just before Luke Skywalker blew that stupid space station up."  
"Oh..." Nevin was going to say 'I'm sorry,' but decided not to, as it would sound stupid and he wasn't the emotional type anyway. "I also know someone who took part in the Battle of Yavin. He survived, fortunately."   
"He must 'ave been lucky then. I 'eard there were only four people who returned: Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Wedge Antilles and some other guy in a Y-Wing."  
"Yeah. That must have been Dale-Mree Jinn. He was in the Gold Squadron and he was almost killed by Darth Vader."  
"Well I've never heard of 'im." There was a long silence as the two of them sat at the table in the loud Cantina with music playing loudly. ". Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, you were gonna have another game with me, right?"  
"Well, actually-"  
"Good. Now then, if you win then you get all your stuff back, but if I win then I get your ship. Actually, what ship 'ave ya got?"  
"Err, an old, rusty piece of junk that doesn't even work. I don't think you'd really want it. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be going now."  
"Hey, wait up!"   
Nevin had had enough of the Cantina for one day. He didn't even look behind him as he walked away with Yiord shouting at him in an attempt to get another decent win.   
He soon arrived at his small hut-like home. He had been brought up by his brother, Bracken, who was twenty years older than he was. He had no idea who his parents were, and whenever he asked his brother about them he was told that they were killed by a group of Sand People. This was believable at first, but after he was trained by Dale-Mree Jinn, who met him in the Dune Sea, he began to sense that they were still alive. But after his brother died of a fatal disease he decided to live alone and he forgot about them. He became a pilot working at Rossin Spaceport, and soon he made his own spacecraft, which he called the Blue Talon. It was a TT1800, and it was about as fast as a spaceship could go nowadays. If he could just find a droid to go inside it he'd be able to go anywhere in the Tatoo System, and if he could get a hyperdrive unit he'd be able to go anywhere in the Galaxy.   
It was mid-day, and he didn't have to go to work till the evening. He tried to think of any other locations on Tatooine where he might be able to get a droid.   
"There must be a map around here somewhere," he said, as he rummaged through the piles of paper on his desk. He found an old dirty map, which might not have been very useful, as it had many of the names of places that didn't exist or ones that weren't being used, like Jabba's Palace and the Tatoo System Star Base. But then he noticed the name of a droid factory called Ninban-Argof. He had no idea whether it still existed or not, but if it did, then it was all the way across the other side of the Dune Sea, and it would take months to walk there and back. The Blue Talon wasn't really the sort of vehicle that should be used to glide along the sand dunes, so he decided to use his last Republic Diersos to rent a sand speeder from Gerba's Vehicle Store.   
  
"Ha, ha, ha!" said Gerba the tall, fat Fleela, after Nevin asked for a good sand speeder. "You need Truguts to rent a vehicle, you stupid Jedi!"   
"No I don't," replied Nevin, as he moved his hand in front of Gerba's eyes.  
"No you don't," agreed Gerba.  
"It's fine to use Diersos."  
"It's fine to use Diersos."  
"Here ya go." Nevin passed a bag full of Republic Diersos to Gerba.  
"Thank you," said Gerba. "The Sand Speeder's in the back of the shop. Here's the key."   
Gerba passed Nevin the key. The reason he had given it to him was that Nevin had used the Force to hypnotise him. He was rather proud of himself after he had actually done it, as Fleelas were supposed to be immune to the mind tricks of the Jedi. He went into the large yard behind the shop and got into the small boat-like speeder. He put the key into the slot and turned it, and the speeder began to float a little. It bobbed up and down for a while, and then Nevin put his foot down on the accelerator and it moved slowly out of the back of the yard. It led out into the dunes. He had the map in his hand and moved along the sand of the desert at an incredible speed. The wind blew his hair back and he could barely see where he was going, because of the sand going into his eyes.   
After four hours of speeding along the dunes he realised that he was lost. There was a massive sandstorm and he couldn't even tell if he was going in a straight line.   
"Where the hell am I?" he thought. "I bet that that Droid Factory isn't even there any more!" He was full of stress, but tried to calm down, as it was not like a Jedi to get angry. Anger led to the Dark Side.   
The storm eventually disappeared, but the only thing he could see was the sandy desert surrounding him.and a figure in the distance. It looked like a person, but he couldn't be sure. He got out of his sand speeder and shouted for help.  
"Hey!" he screamed. "Over here!" The person gave no reaction. Was it just a mirage? They were very common after all, especially in the muggy, dry Dune Sea. Whether it was or not he still ran towards it, hoping that the person would be able to help him. But what if they were lost too?   
"Over here!" he cried, as he ran towards them. This time they turned their head and faced him. It was a woman dressed in what looked like Jedi robes and black boots. "Hey!" She walked towards him and waved. She was remarkably pretty with long, wavy brown hair and a tall, slim figure.   
"Are you Nevin Karr?" she asked. Nevin knew she was a Jedi, so she would do no harm.   
"Yes," he answered. "Who are you?"  
"My name is Silvia Arala. Don't worry, I am a Jedi, just like you."  
"I know. But how did you know who I am?"  
"Well, I was sent to find you. Someone told me that you were in the Dune Lands, heading for a demolished factory."  
"Who told you?"  
"No one important, just a stupid Fleela in Mos Eisley. What made you want to go to an abandoned robot factory?"   
Nevin's lip twitched in personal embarrassment.   
"Oh, don't worry." he said. "Anyway, who sent you to find me?"  
"My Jedi teacher, Dale-Mree Jinn. He's your teacher as well, isn't he?"  
"Used to be my teacher, until I quit and came here."  
"I didn't think a Jedi was allowed to quit."  
"Well I did. So where is he?"  
"Yavin 4."  
"What, at the Jedi Academy?"  
"Yeah. He said he senses something strange in the Force, but he wouldn't tell me what. I think it has something to do with you, though."   
"Ha! He probably thinks I'm turning to the Dark Side, just because I didn't finish my training."  
"Well whatever it is, I suggest you go back to the city, get your ship and follow me to Yavin 4."   
"But my ship has no Astromech Droid. I can't go all the way to Yavin, or I might get arrested by Space Security. They fly all around the Galaxy and we're bound to meet a few. Can't we both go in your ship?"  
"Sorry, mine's only a one-seated Feleerran."  
"You could always sit on my lap."   
She gave him a sarcastic smile.   
"I don't think so, buddy," she said. "You can just follow me. If we do get caught by the security then we'll make a run for it."   
Nevin didn't really want to return to Yavin 4, but as a Jedi he decided that it was important that he returned to his old master if the need called for it. He also had a beautiful woman to travel with and beautiful women were a favourite of his.  
".Okay then," he finally replied, "but there's just one thing.I don't know how to get back to Mos Eisley."  
"Well use the compass in your speeder and head north-east from here."  
"Oh, okay then." He was about to turn around, but hesitated. "Wait a sec, are you sure there's actually a compass in it?"  
"All speeders have compasses. Now I'm going back to my ship. I'll meet you in star-map grid reference 556215457515,642239319624."   
Nevin frowned in amazement at her knowledge of space location numbers.  
"Okay, let me just write that down," he said. He was about to pull a note pad from his pocket, but Silvia said, "Actually, just meet me about half a mile above Mos Eisley."  
"Sure... Oh, but what if the compass doesn't work?"  
"What?"  
"What if the compass in the speeder doesn't work?"   
Silvia sighed.  
"For God's sake, just head that way," she said and pointed in the direction of north-east and left, walking towards her ship, wherever it was. Nevin ran back to his speeder and switched it on with the key. The compass wasn't broke, so he could easily make it back home.  
  
Back at the city he drove the sand speeder into the back of Gerba's Vehicle Store and went into the main room before handing the key to Gerba.   
"So, you had a nice time in the desert, hmm?" the red Fleela asked with his tiny, useless wings beating fast behind his back. "A woman was looking for you, you know."  
"I know, I know," said Nevin as he rushed towards the exit. "I've gotta go. See ya." Gerba gave him a funny look and went back to the counter.  
"Stupid Human," he said. "Humans think they're so clever. Us Fleelas will take over this planet some day. Heh, heh, heh."  
Nevin reached his messy house, got his keys and went outside to open the Blue Talon. He got inside and sat on one of the comfy, Bassa-skin seats. He put the start-up key in the correct hole (there were many holes used for various things), pulled back on the steering stick and took off into the air.  
  
Chapter 3 - The Origin of Chaos  
  
After Nevin and Silvia met back up in the sky, they headed for Yavin 4, the moon on which Nevin had been taught by Dale-Mree Jinn. It took about thirty minutes to get there (hyperdrives had been updated so much that it now only took about six hours to travel from one side of the Galaxy to the other. During the Galactic Civil War it used to take days), and unlike what Nevin had said, they didn't bump into any Space Security Officers.   
It was covered in jungles and hills and had some of the prettiest wildlife in the Galaxy. But it also had some of the deadliest, like the piranha-beetle and the devel vine tree. It was where the Rebels had been based over thirty years ago just before they destroyed the first Deathstar. They had soon fled to planet Hoth and Yavin 4 was forgotten for quite a long while, that is, until Luke Skywalker set up his Jedi Academy there on an old temple. It was destroyed about ten years after, so he built a new one in the same place. It was where Nevin had been taught and it was a beautiful, palace-like building surrounded by gardens full of trees, plants and flowers.   
Dale-Mree Jinn had found him when he was only 3 years old and he was being brought up by his big brother. Dale-Mree asked that he could take him to the Jedi Academy, but Bracken wasn't quite sure he should let Nevin be taken away by a complete stranger. But he eventually agreed to let Dale-Mree take him to Yavin 4 and he decided that he should go too, so that he could still carefully watch the child as he grew up.   
After a long, tiresome seventeen years of training, Nevin was almost a fully-fledged Jedi Knight, but he wasn't very confident that he would stay in the position.  
"Master," he said to Dale-Mree one humid day, "although I've been training for many years and you really are a great tutor, I don't think I'm capable of becoming a Jedi Knight, let alone a Jedi Master."  
Dale-Mree frowned.  
"But I have seen you fight," he said, hoping an argument wouldn't start. "You are excellent at using a lightsabre and your Jedi mind tricks are superb. You use the Force in a way that no other person can achieve."  
"You could be right, master," agreed Nevin as he stared at his feet, "but I feel I'm not clever enough to use my talents wisely... So I'm going back to Tatooine."  
"But you can't!" disagreed Dale-Mree with his dark eyes widened. "You are too good a Jedi not to help in any battles or wars that will happen in the Galaxy."  
"Listen, Master," Nevin said calmly. "There won't be any more battles or wars. It's been confirmed that there are no more Sith Lords in the Galaxy."  
"That had been confirmed many times," said Dale-Mree in a wise tone. "But then some Sith suddenly pop up from nowhere. Darth Sidious of the Trade Federation is an example... Please stay here, Padawan."  
"Sorry, Master," answered Nevin with his head still down. "I've spoken with my brother, Bracken, and it's been decided that we're both leaving." Nevin then walked away, and that was the last time he saw Dale-Mree Jinn.Until now.  
  
He and Silvia slowly lowered their hovering ships to the ground outside the Academy. Nevin got out and felt a sweat come over him in less than a few seconds. He wiped his forehead as Silvia got out of her ship.  
"Whoa!" he said loudly. "It's hotter than Tatooine!"  
"I know," agreed Silvia. "It's not usually like this, though."  
"Isn't it? I can't really remember, as I haven't been here for absolutely ages."   
Silvia didn't reply as she walked through the doors of the Academy with Nevin following her. There was a large, white reception room inside with two round staircases on either side, leading up to a balcony with several doors. There were many people wandering around the area, all of whom were Jedi.  
"It's just like I remember," said Nevin staring around. "It seems like only yesterday I was hanging around this building practising with my lightsabre."  
"Well it's only been four months since you've been here," said Silvia. "It's not going to change much, is it?"  
"Yeah," realised Nevin as he scratched his ear. "I just thought it might be a little different. So, where's Dale-Mree?"  
"Right here, young Padawan," said a familiar voice. It was Dale-Mree, a tall, old man of about fifty years of age with a short, grey/black goatee beard. He wore an old Jedi tunic and a medallion around his neck, stating that he was a Corellian Jedi Master. He came down the stairs and shook hands with Nevin.  
"It's been a long time," Nevin said. "Four months without seeing my teacher."  
"Yes," agreed Dale-Mree as he nodded his head slowly. "I do believe we never even said goodbye?"  
"That's right, Master," answered Nevin ashamed. "I'm sorry I just left without listening to you."  
"Um," said Silvia, who had been standing next to them. "I'm just going to go to the, err, library." She walked away, leaving the other two to talk.  
"Do you still have your lightsabre?" asked Dale-Mree. "I do hope you've been practising your moves, even if you did quit being a Jedi Knight."  
"Why?" asked Nevin with a puzzled smirk across his face. "What did you bring me here for? If it's because you want me to finish my training then.I might say yes. But I'm more likely to say no, because I'd rather lead a more relaxed life on Tatooine."  
"Is Tatooine really your idea of a relaxed place?"  
"I dunno, it's not too bad there. It is my home world after all. Anyway, how about you answer my question? Why did you bring me all the way to Yavin 4?"  
"Come with me," Dale-Mree said as he turned around. He took Nevin up the stairs and into a small meditation room full of candles and books. He picked up one of the candles, pulled one the books, and a large hole appeared on the other side of the room.  
"Whoa!" said Nevin with his jaw dropped. "A secret room! You never told me about it!"   
"Only the wisest of the Jedi know about this room. It is where we discuss certain matters. Come." They both went into the room and Dale-Mree closed the door behind them.   
"So," whispered Nevin, "why are we in here?"  
"The reason I asked you to come here was because I sense a great disturbance in the Force."  
"Oh my God, is that it?"  
"No. This is a big disturbance. I can feel the Force is being strangely unbalanced."  
"Well of course it is. There are no more Sith Lords, are there?"  
"That is exactly what I am talking about. The Sith Lords have returned, and believe me, there are much more than just two of them."  
"But we've spoken about this. The Sith Lords are extinct."  
Dale-Mree loudly exhaled a breath of warm air.   
"The Sith cannot simply become extinct", he explained. "It is the Jedi who turn to the Dark Side who become Sith Lords. The other Jedi Masters of this Academy have spoken and we all agree that something strange is happening. It certainly has something to do with the Dark Jedi."  
"So what's your point. Do we just have to kill them and that's it?"  
"You are extremely less wiser than you were four months ago, Nevin. I suggest you pull yourself together and finish your training."  
Nevin shook his head and rolled his eyes.  
"But why?" he asked. "What difference does one Jedi make in the balance of the Force?"  
"It is nothing to do with the balance, Nevin. It is to do with you. While you were training here we all agreed that there was something strange about you. We sense a lot more power in you than anyone else has. Your midichlorian count is extremely high. In fact, it is higher than mine, or indeed anyone else's."  
"Is it higher than what Darth Vader's was?"  
"Certainly not, but you are still one of the most powerful Jedi in the Galaxy."  
"Does that mean I can beat practically anyone?"  
"Nevin, you are not thinking like you used to. You were clever and mature when you were training here. Now you just make jokes about everything I say."   
Nevin twisted his lip in shame.  
"Sorry, Master," he said. "It's just that I-"   
Suddenly there was the sound of many ships landing outside in the jungle. Dale-Mree and Nevin both looked out through the window only to see eleven X-Wings outside the Academy.  
"Is it the New Republic?" asked Nevin, confused. Eleven men dressed in black robes came out of the ships and brought out some lightsabres from underneath their clothing.  
"No," answered Dale-Mree. "Sith Lords."   
The Sith Lords ran into the Academy and all that Dale-Mree and Nevin heard was the sound of shouting and lightsabres clanging together. It did not sound pretty.  
"We can beat them, right?" asked Nevin, as he looked at Dale-Mree. The old man looked concerned.  
"I am not sure. There may be only eleven of them, but after decades of hiding wherever they are from I would think that they have trained very well. We should go out there and help fight them off."  
"But I don't have my lightsabre. Besides, you just said that we can't beat them." Dale-Mree was about to say something, but changed his mind after seeing that the door was slowly opening. He got his lightsabre from his belt and activated it. The door opened and revealed the face of Silvia.  
"You've gotta come and help!" she shouted. "We're in deep, deep trouble!"  
"We know," said Nevin. There was the sound of heavy footsteps outside the door, which was certainly one the Sith Lords. Instead of getting her lightsabre out, Silvia quickly dived into the secret room with Dale-Mree and Nevin and closed the door.  
"I thought a Jedi was supposed to show no fear," said Nevin sarcastically.  
"Be quiet!" said Dale-Mree. "This is certainly no time for jokes. Just listen." They could hear more than one Sith Lord come into the room.  
"This should be the room where the pupil's files are kept," said a low, husky voice obviously belonging to the Sith who was in charge. "Search the room!"   
The three Jedi could hear the Sith Lords rummaging through all the books in the room.  
"They're looking for the pupil's files," whispered Dale-Mree. "It tells them where all the Jedi in the Galaxy live."  
"You don't think they're going to try to find and kill every single Jedi in the Galaxy, do you?" asked Silvia. "There're over twenty billion of us!"  
"Yes," answered Dale-Mree. "But there could be even more Sith Lords."  
"Here, my lord!" said one of the Sith Lords passing him the Book of Eternal Pages. "This looks like it could be it."   
"Well done," said the leader. "Are all the Jedi in the building dead?"  
"Yes, sir."  
"Good," said the leader. "This is certainly it. We can finally capture the Jedi and take over the Republic! Let us leave this disgusting place!" They all left the building, and the three Jedi could see them leave in their X-Wings. The Jedi got out of the small room and looked around. The whole place was a complete mess. They went downstairs and could see hundreds of dead bodies sprawled all over the place.  
"If eleven of them did this," said Nevin, "then we're looking at some seriously good Sith Lords here."  
"What do we do now," asked Silvia. "Everyone is dead and the whole place is virtually destroyed. We can't stay here."  
"Hmm," said Dale-Mree as he stroked his beard. "We should go to Coruscant and warn the Republic of the Sith Lord's plans to overrun them. Does either of you have a three or four seated ship?"   
"I do," answered Nevin raising his hand, "but it has no hyperdrive, so we won't be able to get to Coruscant in it.Unless I steal a hyperdrive from one of the other ships."  
"Great idea," said Silvia as she rushed towards the exit. "Let's go."  
  
Chapter 4 - The New Republic  
  
The sky was as black as a Sith Lord's mind on the planet of Gruesk, and you could hardly see the silhouette of Darth F'ror's Death Palace placed against the horizon. He sat in his throne room tapping his fingers on the arm of the throne. He was fed up and bored, but just then, Darth Dredian walked into the room with the other ten Sith.   
"Master," he said, "I have found the book in which all the names of the Jedi are kept. There are billions of them, but I assure you we will kill them all."  
"Good," said Darth F'ror. "You have done well, my apprentice. How long will it take to capture the Jedi?"  
"Not long, my lord. Seeing as there are also billions of us spread around the planet, we can safely say that it will only take a matter of days to find them. Then we will take them to the Underground Kingdom where they will be locked away."  
"Excellent," said Darth F'ror with an evil grin on his face that couldn't be seen inside his helmet. He held both his hands up and pressed his fingers together. "Then the New Republic will be helpless against us, and they will let us take over the Galaxy. It's so simple, so easy, so strange, and yet it's just so great! I will order that every Sith Lord on the planet must go and find the Jedi. They will have their own planets to go to, so that it doesn't get too complicated, and it won't waste time... This is going to be tremendous!"  
  
The Blue Talon approached the planet, Coruscant, a world in which every last scrap of surface had been covered by buildings and skyscrapers. It was the hub of the Galaxy and it was where the New Republic was based. All arguments and disputes were settled there, and the leaders were Han and Leia Organa Solo. They both used to be Rebels and Leia was the sister to Luke Skywalker, the best Jedi Master of them all. They were both elected to become the leaders of the New Republic because of their bravery and skill in their past years and they were now both in their fifties. They had three children and lived in the Coruscant Drieros Block, the building on which Dale-Mree told Nevin to land.   
"Excuse me," said the voice of a male landing instructor for the Drieros Block. "What is your purpose here?"  
"We're here to speak to the Presidents, Leia Organa and Han Solo," answered Nevin. "We have urgent news about a possible invasion."  
"I'm sorry," said the instructor, "but we cannot let just anyone in to see the Republic Leaders."  
"But-" said Nevin, who was interrupted by Dale-Mree, who whispered, "Nevin, let me do the talking. Now, sir, I am Dale-Mree Jinn, a Jedi Master and-"  
"Dale Mree Jinn?" said the instructor. "Do you mean THE Dale Mree Jinn?"  
"Uh, yes," answered Dale-Mree Jinn. "You can scan our ship if you don't believe me."  
"That I will do," said the instructor. He held a special scanning device, which told him who was in the ship. Since ten years after the Galactic Civil War everyone had had small identification chips planted in their left hand. It had made a lot of things safer in space, as well as planets.   
The landing instructor's small monitor screen showed the names of all three of the Jedi, including Dale-Mree's.   
"Okay," said the instructor. "You are certainly clear for landing, sir. Have an extremely nice day." The instructor wasn't usually as friendly as this, but with a famous Jedi Master close by it was his duty to welcome them.  
"Thanks," said Dale-Mree. Nevin steadily steered the ship into a large, horizontal, rectangular gap in the side of the building. Inside were two rows of thousands of landing bays, each one with a ship or freighter on it, but as the Blue Talon went further and further through the inside of the building there were many empty spaces.  
"Land there," suggested Dale-Mree, as he pointed to one of them.   
"Okay, okay," replied Nevin groaning. "I don't need you to tell me every single little thing."   
"Ooh!" said Silvia being silly. "Someone's getting a little angry."  
"Shut up, Silv," said Nevin with a frown across his face. "I'm not in the mood for jokes."  
"Well you make them all the time," Silvia said. "What's the matter with me saying just one?"  
"Just be quiet for a sec," Nevin said, his pupils rippling. "I'm trying to land this stupid ship."   
Silvia looked at Dale-Mree. She could tell that he was worried about Nevin. He had been desperately trying to get him to finish his training for the fear that he might be lured to the Dark Side, but Nevin refused and he would still rather spend his life on Tatooine.  
He landed the Blue Talon on one of the round platforms and the three of them got out. Dale-Mree walked down a long sidewalk going along the left edge of the building as though he knew his way. Nevin and Silvia nervously followed him. It wasn't everyday you met the leaders of the Galaxy.  
They were soon escorted to the Throne Room by one of the guards. Han didn't appear to be there, but President Leia was sitting at her throne in a long, beautiful, white dress.  
"Greetings, President Leia," said Dale-Mree as he nodded politely. "These are my two apprentices, Nevin Karr and Silvia Arala."  
"Greetings, Dale-Mree," said Leia. "It's been a very long time since we've seen each other. You look very different."  
"As do you," said Dale-Mree. "You look as prettier than ever."  
"Thank you," she said with a wide smile. Nevin and Silvia had no idea there was any relation between Dale-Mree and Leia.   
"So you are a Jedi Master at last?" she said. "You deserve it. In fact, you really deserve a place in the Jedi Council. I remember you when you were only twenty and you helped my brother in the destruction of the Deathstar. You were such a keen pilot."  
"Why thank you," said Dale-Mree as he smiled. "But, if I may, I must tell you why we are here. We have some news that will, no doubt, strike you as a big shock. The Sith Lords are back and this time there are billions of them, possibly even more of them than the Jedi." There were some strange looks coming from the party of executives and many whispers echoed around the room.  
"But that is impossible," said Governor Gaffon, a short, plump, bearded man. "The Sith were wiped out. Besides, there are always only two of them."  
"Well we saw eleven of them," said Nevin. "They are trying to capture all the Jedi in the Galaxy, so there must be at least a billion of them. They are probably hiding on a secret planet in the Unknown Regions, but how long it will take them to capture us all is unknown."  
"But how do you know all this?" asked Leia in a surprisingly calm voice. Suddenly Han Solo, an old man with a reputation for being the best pilot in the Galaxy stepped into the room from a door next to his throne.  
"Hi there," he said. "Sorry to interrupt anything." He sat in his throne and placed one leg over the other.  
"Oh, of course not, dear," replied Leia. "This is Dale-Mree Jinn. You remember him, don't you?"  
"Oh my God!" Han said with his eyes wide open. "Of course I remember him. How ya doing, pal? It's been a long time!"  
"Hi," said Dale-Mree with just a slight smile. He had never much liked Solo's ways. He had always tried to like him, but it was a tough job for such a wise, serious man such as himself. "I was just telling Leia of the return of the Sith Lords."   
Han raised an eyebrow.  
"What do you mean?" he said confused. "The Sith Lords are dead."  
"They were dead," said Chancellor Cammeni, a tall, blonde-haired woman, "but they have been hiding for decades and now there are billions of them."  
"Yeah," said Silvia. "And they're gonna capture all the Jedi in an attempt to make you give their leader the throne."  
"Do we know who the leader actually is?" asked Senator Fur, a dark-haired man.  
"No," said Dale-Mree, "but the leader of the group that we saw could have been the master's apprentice. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to see what he looked like."  
"That doesn't matter," said Leia. "What's important is that we find out where the Sith are actually hiding. Han and I will do everything in our power to search for them. Scout soldiers will be sent around the Unknown Regions, remote probes will be unleashed and scan ships will be searching at all times."  
"You do realise that the Sith need to capture all the Jedi before they try to take over the Republic?" Dale-Mree asked. "There is plenty of time for you to make some different arrangements."  
"Well in that case," Leia said, "would you like to stay on Coruscant for a time? We can begin negotiations tomorrow if you like."   
"No thanks," answered Dale-Mree interested in something else. "We must be going. Do make sure you are ready for any attacks. I will come back and try to keep you informed on anything that happens."  
"Are you sure you don't want to stay here?" asked Han. "After all, you'll be safe from those Sith Lords."  
"The reason we must go is so that we can warn other Jedi of the Sith," answered Dale-Mree as he looked at the other people in the room. "They have probably already began searching and a Jedi might be being captured as we speak. So now we must say goodbye."  
"Goodbye," said Leia and the others, ".and good luck." The three Jedi were about to leave when Nevin suddenly noticed something he had been looking for, for a long time. It was a green and white, cylindrical, dome-headed Astromech Droid. Dale-Mree and Silvia had already walked away, but he decided to catch up later. In the meantime, he had a deal to make.   
"Excuse me, President Leia," he asked. "You couldn't by any chance sell me this Droid could you?"   
"But it is one of the best Droids in the building," answered Leia. "It has been with us for years."  
"Couldn't you just let me borrow it?" asked Nevin with a sad look. "I'll be careful with it. I'll protect it with my life." He hugged the Droid, trying to show how much he cared for it.  
"Hmm," said Leia. "I dunno. Should we let him borrow it, Han?" She gave Han a what-do-you-think look.  
".Yeah," he replied with a grin. "Go on then. Just take him for a little while."  
"When shall I return him?" asked Nevin.  
"Err," replied Leia, "next time you see us."  
"Sure thing," said Nevin. "That should be pretty soon anyway. I think I'll probably be coming back here a lot of times. Well, bye."  
"Err, if I could just interrupt you there, sir," said a silver, human-shaped Protocol Droid. "I would like to go with you if that's okay."  
"No, C-3GA," said Han. "You're staying here with us."  
"But, sir," groaned C-3GA. "I stay here all the time and I want to go with R2-S2. Besides, you have many other Droids that can help around the house. All I want is to go on an adventure."  
Leia sighed.  
"But Mr Karr doesn't want you come," she said. "He only needs R2 because he needs an Astromech Droid."  
Nevin looked at the poor Droid and felt somewhat sorry for it.  
"Oh, I don't mind," he said. "I'd love to have a Protocol Droid to keep me company. Only to borrow, of course."  
"Well," said Leia, "if you must, C-3GA."  
"Thank you so much, Master!" said C-3GA excited with his stiff arms waving around as much as they could. "And thank you, sir Nevin."  
"No problem," Nevin replied. "Anyway, my two friends have gone ahead and they'll be waiting for us. Thanks, Presidents. Goodbye."  
"Goodbye!" said the others. Nevin, R2-S2 and C-3GA all made their way back to the ship where the other two were.  
"Where have you been?" asked Silvia. "You do want to help us save the Galaxy, don't you?"  
"I got two Droids," replied Nevin, ignoring her question. "An Astromech Droid and a Protocol Droid. Like 'em?"  
Silvia knelt down and rubbed her hand round the shiny, clean surface of R2-S2's head.  
"Not bad," she said. "The green one's very cute."   
R2-S2 bleeped a few times. He couldn't speak human language, but he could understand it. He had a small translator screen fixed onto his front, so that people could read what he said.  
"Are these actually relevant to our quest?" asked Dale-Mree. "The protocol one is certainly unnecessary."  
"No he isn't!" replied Nevin as he put his hands on his waste. "He'll probably save our life one day. In fact, both of them will probably save our lives. I gotta take real good care of 'em, otherwise the Presidents will be extremely angry with me. They're very important after all. Anyway, we'd better get going. In fact, where are we going?"  
"Me and Silvia are going to the planet of Ossus," said Dale-Mree as he began walking back into the Blue Talon. "That is where most Jedi meet and discuss matters, a bit like on Coruscant. But you are going to Talasea."  
Nevin looked at Silvia and then looked back at Dale-Mree.  
"What?" he said, his eyebrows pointing down. "Why?"  
"Talasea is where Jedi Master, Gansh lives," answered Dale-Mree. "You must go there and finish your training."  
"Training?" said Nevin, his eyes squinting evilly. "I don't want to finish my training though."  
"You must," replied Dale-Mree deciding not to take any more of Nevin's moaning. "You have no choice. Anyway, Talasea is uninhabited and you are less likely to be found by the Sith. I don't care what you say and you will regret it if you don't become a Jedi Knight. Now take us to Ossus."  
"But - oh okay," said Nevin, who decided that Dale-Mree was probably right. The conclusion of training was a lot more important than anyone would think and it was easy to take the path to the Dark Side after you had already begun. "Where is this planet Ossus?"  
"It's in the Expansion Region," answered Dale-Mree. "Now take us there." The three Jedi and the two Droids all got into the ship and Nevin started it up, before flying away to the Expansion Region.   
After a short flight the Blue Talon landed on the green, mountainous planet of Ossus. It landed during the night in the capital city, Doranda, a place where hundreds of Jedi Masters spoke about matters to do with the Galaxy. The air was cool and there was a faint mist surrounding the beautiful mountains.  
"This is the place," said Dale-Mree. "Now go, but promise me you'll train. Master Gansh is a good teacher and will be happy to help you finish your last part of the training."  
"Don't worry, Master," replied Nevin as he began to start up the ship again. "I'll do my best. Bye Silvia, bye Dale-Mree."  
"Goodbye," said the two of them. "Take care of the Droids." The Blue Talon lifted up into the air and zoomed off in a flash and the two Jedi walked into the city.  
  
Chapter 5 - The Final Training   
  
Talasea was a world made of forests and was uninhabited, apart for Gansh of course. It had many feral banthas that roamed the lands and were much more aggressive than their Tatooine cousins were. The lakes swarmed with gana fish and the trees were covered with giant patta weevils scurrying about eating fungus and leaves. The only manmade building on the planet was an old Rebel Base that was once used by Rogue Squadron, an elite team of fighter pilots working for the Alliance. Since that had been abandoned there had been no other humans there, so Nevin was the first in ten years.   
He got out of the Blue Talon and told the two Droids to stay in the ship. He looked around for a while.   
"How the hell am I going to find Gansh on a big planet like this?" he thought to himself. He walked through tree after tree and tripped over protruding tree roots many, many times. He shouted a few times in an attempt to make Gansh hear him.   
Soon a short, red, shiny person with an oval head and a long nose wearing a brown, well-worn Jedi robe climbed out of a small, round, door-like hole in one of the larger trees. It looked exactly like the same species as the great Niiai, except it looked younger and had longer, red hair. It startled Nevin as it stepped out of the bushes and stared at him with its small, grey eyes.  
"Err, hi," said Nevin standing still. "You, uh, look just like Master Niiai did... Are you a Jedi Master?"   
The little person walked around studying Nevin with a wise look on its round face. "Um, can you even speak? I'm Nevin Karr and I'm looking for a Jedi Master named Gansh. You don't happen to know them, do you?"   
It looked up at him, still puzzled.   
"Yes," it said with a soft, feminine voice. "Know them I do."  
"You're a female?" asked Nevin taken aback. "Not that you look like a man or anything. It's just that it's hard to tell what sex another species is."  
"That I am," answered the woman. "What brings you here?"  
"Dale-Mree Jinn sent me here. Do you know him?"  
"Sounds familiar Jinn does. Remember hearing it I do.over sixty years ago."  
"Well that couldn't have been Dale-Mree. He was only born half a century ago."  
"Sent you here why?"   
She looked up at him with her head tilted in interest.  
"I'm a Jedi," Nevin replied. "I need to finish just a little more of my training, so could you possibly take me to Gansh?"  
"Gansh I am."  
Nevin squinted and stared at the small person.   
"What?" he said. "You're Gansh?"  
"Yes. Have you're lightsabre do you?"  
"Why didn't you tell me you were Gansh before?"  
"Jedi Masters have our ways we do."   
"You sure do."  
Gansh ignored the comment.  
"Now, my question you must answer," she said. "Have you're lightsabre do you?"  
"No. Dale-Mree says that I've finished all my lightsabre training. Now all I need to practise is my use with the Force."  
"Used the Force before have you?"  
Nevin frowned.  
"Of course I have."  
"But used it in your mind have you?"  
"Yes. I always use my mind to use the Force."  
"Used it to move objects have you?" Gansh asked as she pointed at him.  
"A little, but I can hypnotise a Fleela, even though they're supposed to be immune to the Force. That's something I'm particularly proud of."  
"Move objects you must. Follow me." Gansh went back into her tree-hut and Nevin followed her in. It was bright and cosy inside, even if it was a little small for a human. Gansh got her lightsabre out from inside a small, square cupboard and walked out of the hut. Nevin followed her and she placed the lightsabre a few metres in front of him.  
"Move your body you must not," she said. "Move the sabre with your mind." Nevin stared at the lightsabre and concentrated. He slowly pulled it towards him without even making physical contact with it. It soon came close to his feet and then suddenly shot up into his hands.  
"Good," said Gansh. "A little slow, but good. Use the Force on your body can you?"  
Nevin frowned again.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Jump onto the long branch above me."  
"How?"  
"With the Force."   
Nevin looked at the branch, which was about ten metres above them. He concentrated on the Force and jumped. He went up about two feet, levitated for a while and suddenly dropped back onto the wet ground. This was obviously something he would have to practise for a while...   
  
Meanwhile, on Ossus, Dale-Mree and Silvia were both speaking in the Grand Hall of the Jedi. It was a gigantic, circular, golden room with floating platforms moving all around the air with a Jedi on each one. Very similar to the Old Republic Senate Chambers of Coruscant, it was where the Jedi discussed important matters and incidents of the Galaxy.  
"My dear Jedi," shouted Dale-Mree. His voice echoed around the room. "I am Dale-Mree Jinn of Corellia, son of Teoll Jinn and Mary Sunrider. My apprentice, Silvia Arala and I have discovered a big disturbance in the Force. The Sith have returned."   
There were many gasps and whispers in the massive room. "They have destroyed Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. He is still alive though, as he wasn't there at the time, but let me get to the point. There are billions of them. We have no idea who their leader is, but we may know if he has an apprentice."  
"Excuse me!" said a female's voice. "How do you know all this?"  
"Silvia and I were at the Academy when it was destroyed. We heard one of them say something about capturing every Jedi in the Galaxy, so that they can take them hostage and the Republic will give their master the throne. There is probably a group of them heading our way. After all, they'll know that this is where they'll find most of the Jedi."  
"I suggest we fight back," said a husky-voiced man. "They may be Sith Lords, but we're Jedi and we'll beat them, no matter what!" Many people whispered again, probably agreeing to what the man said.  
"But it's not that easy," said Silvia. "They have been hiding for decades. They are bound to be excellent fighters. In fact, when they destroyed the Academy there were only eleven of them, yet they slaughtered nearly every single Jedi there. We must think of something else!"  
"I agree," said the Jedi Minister, a tall grey-haired man. "Fighting is for the fearful. We are Jedi, so we must do something else."  
"I say we do what we're supposed to do," said a man. "Let's protect the Republic!"  
"He is right," said a tall dark woman. "We should all go to Coruscant and stop them from even landing." Suddenly there were many, many screams coming from all over the place. The roof of the room suddenly split open and a long thin red laser came shooting right down the middle of the room. Many of the floating platforms were either destroyed or pushed aside. People were moving their platforms to the edge of the room, so that they could connect to a door where they could escape.   
"Follow me!" said Dale-Mree to Silvia. They both moved across the rounded side of the hall and their platforms connected to it. They got out and Dale-Mree pressed a button, which opened the large, mechanical door in front of them. Several Sith Lords stood in front of them with their red lightsabres out. Both Dale-Mree and Silvia knew they had absolutely no chance of beating them, so they let the Sith tie their hands together and take them to the Sith Spacecraft outside in the mountains. Many other Jedi were caught and it was soon confirmed that all the Jedi in Doranda City were caught. There were only a few other cities on the planet where there were Jedi and the Sith would, no doubt, catch them all.  
  
Back on Talasea, Nevin was still trying his best to jump onto the branch. Gansh was very confident he would do it eventually and he was getting better every time. He had twisted his ankle, but he kept trying.  
"Do it you can," said Gansh. "Use the Force harder you must. Don't push with your legs; push with your mind."   
Nevin looked at the branch and concentrated as he pushed with the Force as hard as he could. He went flying into the air, grabbed hold of the branch, swung himself round and stood on it, trying to keep his balance. He looked down at Gansh, who looked like she was a mile down.  
"I did it!" he said amazed. "I actually did it!"  
"Well done. But only once have you done it. Many more times you must do it."   
Nevin jumped down from the branch without managing to hurt himself.  
"So, shall I do it again?" he asked. "I reckon I could."  
"Go ahead," answered Gansh as she nodded. He looked at the branch and concentrated very hard. He jumped about seven feet and nearly grabbed onto the branch, but fell back down to the ground. He got up and brushed the dirt off of his clothes.  
"One more time," he insisted, and looked at the branch. He stayed calm and jumped up into the air. He went so high that he didn't even need to grab on. He just landed feet-first onto the branch and said, "Yes! I knew I could do it!" He got back down.  
"But a Jedi Knight must be able to do it every time," said Gansh. "There is no try.just do."  
"Well I'll do it again," said Nevin. "I'll do it every single time. Watch." He looked at the branch. He was very certain that he could do it again and he concentrated. He done what Gansh told him to do. He didn't try. He just did it. He jumped onto the branch as though it was a perfectly natural thing to do and then he jumped onto another and another, until he was well over fifty metres in the air. Gansh couldn't even see him through the thick leaves of the trees. He jumped back down using the branches he had used to get up.  
"Thew!" he gasped. "Now that was cool!"  
"Save your life it could," replied Gansh. "Despite what Dale-Mree has said, like to see you use a lightsabre I would."   
Gansh passed him her lightsabre, got out a small, mechanical ball and threw it into the air. It floated and moved about. Nevin had seen one of its kinds before. It was a remote seeker. It could do all sorts of things to help Jedi train and Gansh obviously wanted him to hit it with the lightsabre. It moved about very quickly, but Nevin waited for the right time and used the Force to judge when to hit it. He struck it with the sabre and it smashed down to the ground. Seekers were cheap, so Gansh had loads more.  
"Good are you," she said. "How acrobatic are you?"   
"Very good," admitted Nevin. "Dale-Mree taught me how to do many stunts and techniques. Shall I show you any?"  
"No," answered Gansh. "Already believe you have what it takes to be a Jedi Knight I do."  
"What! So I'm a Jedi Knight? Why didn't Dale-Mree tell me it was going to be that easy? In fact, he might as well have taught me himself."  
"No! Before a true Jedi Knight you become, prove yourself worthy you must. Still have much to learn you do, but sure I am that Dale-Mree Jinn will agree that you are a good Jedi. Still, only capable you are. Saying that you already are a knight is not what I mean. Prove yourself worthy, yes."  
"What do you mean by 'prove myself worthy?' What do I need to do to become a Jedi Knight?"   
"Soon see you will. Sensed great amount of the Force in you I have. One day, a true battle will prove your potential it will."  
Nevin stared at Gansh.  
" A true battle?"   
"Yes. An important struggle between both the Light and the Dark Side will determine your fate."  
"Well the Light Side tends to overcome the Dark Side, even if the Sith Lords are more powerful than the Jedi."  
"Who said you will be the Light Side?"  
"Well of course I'll be on the Light Side! I've practically finished my training, so I'm not going to turn to the Dark Side. I'd hate to do that. The Sith Lords are my worst enemies."  
"Presume too much you do. Anything can happen in this Galaxy."   
"Well I'll never surrender to the Sith."  
Gansh stared into the sky.   
"Sense danger I do. Leave now, you should."  
Nevin looked about.   
"So I'm finished here?"  
"Yes. Stay with Dale-Mree Jinn you must. Before a true Jedi Knight you become you must prove yourself worthy. Now go."  
"I will, I will. I'll do my best. Thanks. and goodbye."  
"Goodbye, Jedi."   
Nevin walked back through the large group of trees and got back to the Blue Talon.  
"Where have you been, sir?" asked C-3GA in a worried tone. "Me and R2 have been waiting here for absolutely ages."  
"I've finished my training!" said Nevin, who was very happy.   
"Excuse me, sir?" asked C-3GA confused. "What training?" R2-S2 gave a few short, high-pitched bleeps.   
"My Jedi training!" answered Nevin. ". Well, practically anyway. I only need one more thing to become a Jedi Knight. Apparently I have to prove my potential in a battle. What the hell that means I don't know, but it sounds pretty easy. After all, it's possible to win absolutely any battle."  
"Err, Excuse me, sir, but what are you talking about?"  
"Never mind. I've got to get to Ossus. I can't wait to tell Dale-Mree and Silvia how well I've done." He got into the Blue Talon and took into the air. He was about to shoot into space when suddenly he was pulled back.  
"What the hell is going on?" he said. He looked through his rear-view computer screen. "Uh oh. We're in a tractor beam."  
"Oh dear," said C-3GA. "That can't be good."  
"And just to make matters worse, it's a Sith Spacecraft."  
  
Chapter 6 - The Truth Exposed   
  
Darth F'ror no longer sat in his Death Palace on Gruesk, but in the Throne Room of the Star Fortress just on the edge of the Outer Rim Territories. It was absolutely gigantic. If the whole thing were hollow then you'd be able to fit about ten Deathstars inside it! It looked like a white, blue and red palace standing on top of an Imperial Star Destroyer that moved it along. Its towers were long and spiky with red laser rays on top of them, each one powerful enough to destroy a planet, just like the original Deathstar's Superlaser.   
Darth Dredian walked into the room with a smile on his face, obviously saying that he had good news.  
"Master," he said, still with the evil grin. "I was searching planet Talasea for any Jedi and I found one that you may be particularly interested in."  
"Who are they?" asked Darth F'ror in his muffled, croaky voice.   
"I found him flying away in a TT1800 with two Droids inside. His name is Nevin Karr. You might be familiar with the name, Karr."  
"Err," replied Darth F'ror trying to think. "No, I can't seem to remember. Remind me."  
"His parents were the two Jedi from Tatooine. They were the two beings that would certainly bring an end to the Sith. You sent me out to kill them about three years ago, which I succeeded in doing. Remember, my lord? They had two children but left after their second son was born. I think I have that second son."  
Darth F'ror turned his hand.  
"Bring him in,"  
"Yes, my lord."   
Darth Dredian went outside and brought in Nevin, whom had his hands behind his back, tied by chains. He looked up at the creepy, masked face of Darth F'ror.  
"So," said Darth F'ror. "You're the Jedi who thinks he can destroy all the Sith Lords?"  
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Nevin with a nasty scowl across his face. "I'm only a Jedi Knight. I doubt I could defeat every single Sith Lord in the Galaxy."  
"Well your parents seemed to think they could," said Darth F'ror with a hidden smile.  
Nevin looked very confused and gave F'ror a suspicious look.  
"What are you talking about?" he asked. "You don't even know my parents."  
"I think you're the one who doesn't know them," replied Darth Dredian. "I happen to have met them.and killed them."  
"What?" said Nevin confused. "You didn't kill them! They were killed by some Tusken Raiders! My brother said so!"  
"Your brother was wrong!" answered Darth F'ror loudly. "They were still alive three years ago and they thought they could defeat me!"  
"But I defeated them!" said Darth Dredian with a spooky look upon his face. He stared at Nevin as he walked around him in a circle. "I killed them on my very own! And now I shall kill you!"  
"Not yet!" said Darth F'ror, just before Dredian was about to activate his lightsabre. "Wait, my apprentice! If we keep him alive then we may be able to use him as bait somehow. Although, I'm not actually sure that anyone knows how important he is.   
"Anyway, you can kill him after all the Jedi have been captured. I would like to get that out of the way first. Now, take him to the lower dungeons of the Palace!"  
"Yes my lord," said Darth Dredian with a disappointed look across his face, and he took Nevin away.   
As he was taken towards the lower floors of the Palace Nevin wondered about the things that the two Sith Lords had said. Were his parents really killed by Darth Dredian? If so, then Nevin would have liked to kill him in the most painful way ever, but this was one of the most powerful Sith Lords in the Galaxy he was thinking about. Still, they could have been lying. Maybe his parents were still alive. There were many questions that he asked himself, but there was probably only one person that could have answered them all: his brother, Bracken. He knew that there were ways of contacting the spirits of those who had died, but it rarely happened.  
He was thrown into a dark, eerie cell with only a wooden table to sleep on. The walls were made of crumbly, old rock, not the sort of material you'd expect to find in such a new and expensive Palace.   
Darth Dredian walked away down the long corridor that he had taken Nevin down. There were red lasers, which went horizontally from one side of the cell to the other. They would burn through human flesh just like a lightsabre and stopped Nevin from escaping from his cell. The only guard in the corridor was a tall, upright, black robot, which had several guns hooked onto its side and a lightsabre. It walked up and down in a programmed fashion and didn't look like it was very clever or it had any emotions. It just walked up and down continuously without looking at the cells. If anything came out of the cell then it would probably sense it, turn around and fire with its weapons. If Nevin wanted to escape then he'd have to do it very carefully.  
  
Meanwhile, in the Underground Kingdom of Gruesk, billions of Jedi were being thrown in what seemed like an endless amount of prison cells. Dale-Mree and Silvia were both in cells next to each other and were talking.  
"Dale-Mree," whispered Silvia. "How are we gonna get outta here?"   
"With great difficulty," answered Dale-Mree. "There's loads of heavily-armed robots securing the whole prison. Our chances of escaping are pretty slim."  
"Are the robots powered by a certain generator?"  
"I have no idea. If they are then it's probably hidden deep underground. They're switched on for twenty-four hours a day, so there'd be no need for a generator to be easy to reach. Besides, who's going to destroy it?"  
"I dunno. Do you think Nevin's been caught yet?"  
"I would think so. Talasea may be an uninhabited planet, but the Sith are still likely to search it thoroughly."  
"So what do you think is going to happen?"  
"I don't know. The Sith Lords are extremely powerful, especially since they're managing to kidnap every single Jedi in the Galaxy. They could just kill us all and the Jedi population would have to start all over again. It is almost certain that they will take over the Galaxy, no matter how hard the Republic try to fight them off."  
"President Leia didn't seem like she was very worried about it."  
"Perhaps she didn't believe us."  
"But she's a Jedi. You'd think she would believe us, no matter how absurd it sounded."  
"Well she has no Jedi Knights to protect her now. She, Han and the Republic will have to fight the Sith Lords alone and that is something that I doubt they can do. That is the reason why the Sith will certainly rule the Galaxy."  
"Well even if they do take over the Galaxy we can still fight them and get it back, right?"  
"As soon as they take over the Galaxy they will kill us all. Only if all of us escape will there be a chance of beating them. However, if we are killed then they will be the leaders for a very long time."  
"How can we escape?"  
"One way would be if the Droids are shut down. If they have no generator then I guess the only way would be if another race or group of people comes to save us. Seeing as Gruesk is a hidden planet I doubt that will happen. We'll just have to rely on what happens elsewhere."  
  
Back in the Star Fortress, Nevin sat alone in his smelly cell trying to think of a way to escape.   
"Right," he thought. "The robot guard is armed with four guns and one lightsabre. The corridor that it walks down is about twenty-five metres long. The only way of getting out of my cell is by somehow switching off the red laser-bars. All I have in my cell is a wooden table. Now, how do I get out?"   
He looked about for any switches that might turn off the red laser-bars stopping him from getting out. There was nothing. The corridor was made of plain, blue metal with no features whatsoever. He looked at the robot and wondered perhaps if it could open the cells. He also wondered if it would be able to get back up again if it was knocked over. He went over to the wooden table and pulled as hard as he could on one of the legs. It was very tightly screwed on and wouldn't budge, so he decided to do something else. The robot was walking near his cell. He concentrated on it and when it had nearly passed the cell he used a Force-push to knock it over. He quickly looked at one of its guns and used the Force to drag one of them towards him. It quickly zoomed in between the laser-bars and went into his hand. He pointed it straight at the robot and held down the trigger. A beam of yellow light came out and violently blasted pieces out of the robot.   
Suddenly the laser-bars began to flicker on and off. He kept the laser pointed at the robot and it was soon blown to smithereens. All the laser-bars in every cell in the corridor switched off, including Nevin's. He ran down the corridor and headed for the mechanical doors. He looked for a button to open them but there was only a small swipe-card machine. He ran back to the robot he'd destroyed and searched for any cards. It moved its eyes a little, showing that it was still barely alive, so Nevin shot it straight in the face.   
He kept looking for any cards and found a small white one attached to the robot's arm. He pulled it off and ran back to the door. He put the card in the machine and moved it across. The door opened in a spiral sort of way and led out into more basic corridors. Suddenly a loud, low-pitched bleeping sound filled the Palace. It was obviously an alarm and Nevin had been found out. He decided to try and go downwards, so that he might be able to get to the docking bay where he'd be able to get a ship to escape with. But after all his speedy work escaping from the cell, it seemed that getting out of the fortress itself would be even harder.  
  
Further up in the Palace, in the Throne Room, Darth Dredian arrived.  
"Master," he said to Darth F'ror. "The Jedi has escaped from his cell."  
"Already?" shouted Darth F'ror. "You only put him in there a little while ago and he has already escaped!"   
Darth Dredian was worried that Darth F'ror would punish him badly. Whenever he got angry with someone he tended to kill him or her in a very cruel way, but seeing as Darth Dredian was his apprentice he wouldn't do anything like that to him.   
"Err, my lord," Darth Dredian said nervously. "Would you like me to go down there and kill him before he escapes?"  
"No!" shouted Darth F'ror. "I shall kill him!" He got out of his throne, picked up both his lightsabres and stormed out of the room.   
  
Nevin rushed through corridor to corridor looking for any doors, but everywhere looked the same. It was like walking through a hall of mirrors and there appeared to be no way out.  
Suddenly, two large, square, bulky, black Droids with cannons upon their backs came rolling down corridors both sides of Nevin. They both bent down and Nevin saw the two cannons on their backs, facing directly towards him from his left and right.  
He gasped in terror and quickly dived out of the way as they both fired a missile each at the same time. The missiles crashed into each other and caused a massive explosion that Nevin had only just escaped from.  
He got back to his feet and ran forward into a different corridor, but the robots both followed him, rolling behind on their conveyor engines. He turned a corner and saw before him another long corridor with no separate features at all; just a plain, dull, white corridor.   
But suddenly, just as the robots behind him began to bend down again, preparing to fire their cannons, he noticed a panel on the ceiling, larger than the rest. Somehow he just knew that that was the way out.   
He ran towards it and jumped to push it up. It flapped open and he grabbed onto the edge, climbing up into a room above as two missiles from the robots zoomed past he feet, narrowly missing him.   
Still carrying the Sentry-Droid's blaster, Nevin looked around at fifty-odd Sith Lords working on a control machine in the middle of the large room he had climbed into. He fired at them as he ran quickly towards a door at the other side of the room, but they were all fast enough to block the firing with their lightsabres. They began to chase after him and he quickly fired at the control panel beside the door.   
Fortunately it opened just as he reached it and he ran through with lots of Sith Lords chasing after him with their lightsabres in their hands. He ran down a wide, square corridor that sloped downwards quite steeply.  
Suddenly he stopped as he reached a dead end and he turned around, watching as the Sith Lords approached him. He picked up a fire extinguisher on the wall and threw it forward, before it hit one of the Sith Lords at the front of the group and knocked him backwards.   
Nevin used the force to pick up his lightsabre and brought it to his hands. Instead of using it to fight the Sith Lords he stuck it into the floor and drew a circle around himself. Once the circle was complete it began to fall through the floor. Nevin fell down about two floors, but wasn't too badly hurt.   
He had reached a large, flat room with a massive pit in the middle. He looked down it and noticed that it led outside, down to some pink/yellow clouds. The Star Fortress had obviously moved and was now above a planet. There were some speeder-boards nearby, which he could use to escape from the Palace and land on the planet.   
He ran over to them, but a very tall, armoured man with a horned mask stepped in front of him. It was Darth F'ror. Nevin shot at him but the armour reflected the laser-beam back. Darth F'ror activated his two lightsabres and took two long swipes at Nevin. He just about dived out of the way and landed near a broken Protocol Droid. He picked it up and threw it at Darth F'ror in an attempt to knock him over, but the Sith Lord just punched it and it smashed into pieces. Nevin used a Force-push, but that didn't do a thing, and Darth F'ror tried the same thing on Nevin and he went flying against the wall. Nevin knew that this man was unbeatable, especially without his lightsabre and didn't know what to do. Darth F'ror picked him up by the neck, slammed him onto the floor and he landed next to the pit. The Sith walked up to him, lifted both his lightsabres above his head and struck them down towards him. But Nevin had fast reflexes and he rolled out of the way quickly. He had rolled too far and almost fell down the pit, but managed to grab onto the edge with the tips of his fingers. Darth F'ror stood in front of him, towering like a giant.  
"Well," he said. "It seems like you're not going to win the battle after all, little Jedi! Below you is the gas planet of Ord Ibanna. You'll keep falling and falling into the clouds, until you come close to the core where it becomes so hot that your skin will start to sizzle and your eyes will start to boil. Your hair will begin to singe and eventually your head will explode because of the tremendous heat. I do hope you have a nice journey! He kicked at Nevin's fingers making him loose his grip and plunge to his almost certain death.   
  
Chapter 7 - Hope in the Clouds  
  
After an hour of falling at an amazing speed Nevin began to loose hope that anything would save him. He had never heard of Ord Ibanna and didn't even know if it was inhabited. If it was then it would have to have floating cities like Cloud City on planet Bespin. The air was perfectly breathable and was still freezing cold, which must have been good, considering what Darth F'ror had said.  
Nevin looked down as he fell and kept thinking he could see objects that might break his fall. Unfortunately they turned out to be darker clouds of gas or lumps of ice floating in the air, but as he dropped through a layer of pink clouds he noticed a silver/black speck directly below him. It was way too dark to be a cloud or a lump of ice, and as he fell closer towards it he could make out more detail, until there was absolutely no doubt that it was man-made. It looked like a floating city, just as Nevin had thought there would be, and it was gigantic. There was one massive, rectangular building, slap bang in the middle and it was surrounded by a few patches of grass here and there, some lakes, tall skyscrapers and other various things.   
As Nevin fell further it appeared to grow bigger and bigger, until he could make out vehicles driving along the roads and speedways. He closed his eyes tight and waited for the last moments of his life to pass as he splat onto the ground. But instead, he felt himself smack against some water, which made the front of his body sting all over. He zoomed under the water at an incredible speed, until he started to slow down and he began to float back up to the surface. He treaded water while he looked around. He had landed in a circular lake with a diameter of about two hundred metres and surrounding it were the skyscrapers he had seen while he was falling. He swam towards the nearest part of land and could see the massive, rectangular building he had seen before. There were only a few vehicles moving around here and they were all driven by Droids. He couldn't see one human or any other species and the skyscrapers appeared to be empty inside. This truly was a weird place.  
He soon made it to the shore, exhausted from the amount of swimming. He lay on his back on the soft, clay ground and looked up at the clouds. He couldn't be bothered to get up and was very tired; he hadn't been to sleep for ages. His eyelids began to drop, but he suddenly jumped as a silver, square-headed Droid looked down at him and said in a feminine voice, "Hello, sir. You appear to be in a bit of a mess. Perhaps you would like me to take you somewhere else? Somewhere warm perhaps?" Nevin couldn't refuse. He got up and said, "I don't know who you are, or where I am, but I simply cannot say no."  
"Excuse me, sir," said the Droid, "but I did not understand your answer."   
It was obviously a very cheap, old-fashioned Droid if it had no personality or feelings, so Nevin tried to repeat his answer in an easier way to understand.   
"Yes," he said. "That - would - be - nice."  
"I still did not understand your answer, sir."  
"Yes, goddamit!"  
"I still did not understand your answer, sir."  
"Yes!"  
"Then please follow me, sir." The Droid waddled along a road with Nevin following her. He didn't know where she was taking him, but he hoped it would be a place to sleep, just as she had said.  
After a short journey Nevin was taken to the massive building that was in the middle of the city. Well at least he would finally find out what this place actually was. It was a fairly flat building, but it had a gigantic area. It was made from steel and had many glass windows, but they were tinted, so you couldn't actually see inside. There were four flags on each top corner of it, each with the same strange design. It was unknown what they meant, but Nevin guessed that it was the national flag for the planet or even the city.   
He was taken inside to a massive reception lounge with a red carpet, a lovely fountain in the centre and beautiful plants near the windows. A grey-haired man in black clothes was looking outside one of the windows and suddenly turned his head to look at Nevin.  
"Oh my God!" he shouted. "A visitor! A visitor! Please sit down, sir, please sit down!"  
"Err," said Nevin, who was rather confused, "who are you?"  
"You know who I am," said the man with a big grin. "Don't you?"  
Nevin shrugged his shoulders.  
"No."  
"You mean you're not one of the people, who I sent a letter to ages ago?"  
"Not that I can remember."  
The man looked at his feet and thought for a while.  
".Then how do you know of this city?"  
"It's long story. I don't think you wanna hear."  
"Oh believe me, I do."   
"Well, I was on a ship while fighting an evil Sith Lord and I fell out. I fell and I fell and I fell, until I landed in a lake somewhere in this city. A Droid came along and took me here. That's all I know."  
The man shook his head and sighed.  
"Oh. That's a shame. I was hoping you'd be one of the people that I wrote to."  
"What people that you wrote to?"  
"Well, I'll tell you my little story too. This planet is called Ord Ibanna. It used to be heavily populated, but the Empire destroyed all the floating cities and now it is just a forgotten world. But I, being a heavily rich tycoon, decided to build a city. I bought thousands of cheap, but hard working Droids to help me build this fantastic place here on Ord Ibanna. Isn't it wonderful? Anyway, it's called Ferlazea City, named after my wife, who disappeared a year ago. About five months ago I sent about a hundred letters to some people to come here and inspect it, so that I could find out if it's good enough to have people living and working in it. If people did live here I'd make more money than I've ever dreamed of, but so far no one has come here."  
"Oh, I feel very sorry for you. It must have taken you ages to build."  
"Don't worry, I don't mind that much. I've still got loads of cash. Anyway, where are my manners? I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Weavar Creshfield and the Droid that took you here was DDOHT67.I think. I can never be too sure; the Droids all look the same."  
"Um, I hope this isn't asking too much, but is there anywhere I can sleep? I'm extremely tired and I haven't slept for absolutely ages."  
"Why of course you can! What's your name?"  
"Nevin.Nevin Karr."  
"Well then, Nevin, I'll take you to a room on the third floor where you can have a lovely Hutt-sized bed. You'll love it."  
"Err, thanks."  
  
Meanwhile, at the Death Palace, Darth Dredian was, yet again, speaking to Darth F'ror.   
"Master," he said. "I know this may seem a little odd, but I sense that the young Jedi that you killed is still alive."  
"Alive?" growled Darth F'ror. "I saw him fall out of the bottom of the Palace. He wouldn't be alive if he was falling into a gas planet!"  
"But my lord, what if he landed on something?"  
"There is nothing to land on. Well, except for a few lumps of ice floating about the place."  
"What about cities, my lord?"  
"Cities? They were all destroyed by the Empire, you idiot!"   
"Aren't there any Life Zones on the planet?"  
"No! You're thinking of Bespin!"  
"Master, if the planet is no longer in use then why don't we use one of the Palace's super-lasers to destroy it? That way it would be certain that the man did not survive."  
"Are you stupid? It uses huge amounts of energy when we use the laser! There is no point in your stupid little suggestion if we already know that he is dead!"  
"But we don't know that he is dead!" Dredian shouted annoyed. Darth F'ror stood up and tilted his head.  
".Are you arguing with me, Darth Dredian?"  
Dredian was, at first, slightly nervous and afraid of Darth F'ror's question, but as he thought for a while he cast a scorn across his face.  
"Yes. I am arguing with you! And if you don't like it then why don't you just come here and kill me?"   
Darth F'ror calmly picked up both his lightsabres.  
"I've been training you for a very long time," he said with a sigh, "but it seems that you think I'm not good enough to be the leader of the Galaxy. So, I will kill you where you stand!"   
He activated both his lightsabres and ran towards Darth Dredian in a violent rage. Dredian activated his own lightsabre and unexpectedly kicked Darth F'ror in the face. The force of the kick broke his helmet that been hiding his face for all these years. The front part of it smashed into pieces as though it were glass and Darth Dredian saw the evil face of one of the deadliest Sith Lords in the Galaxy. His red eyes were squinted tight and he had wrinkles and scars all over his skin. He looked at his apprentice with a menacing stare.  
"It seems you have trained me too much, my lord," said Darth Dredian. "I destroyed your helmet and now I will destroy you!" The tables had turned and he proved he was more powerful than his master was by stabbing his lightsabre straight through his stomach. Darth F'ror gave a quiet, high-pitched scream of terror and passed away.   
Darth Dredian stared at the body and laughed, for he was the new leader of the Sith and now it would be him trying to take over the Galaxy.  
  
More and more Jedi were being captured and taken into the Underground Kingdom of Gruesk. There were now only another million to be captured and it would not take long. Silvia sat in her cell wondering what Nevin was doing that very second. Was he somewhere else in this prison? Had he been killed? Was he still on Talasea? Wherever he was, she could only hope that he was planning on setting the Jedi free.  
"Dale-Mree," she called, but there was no answer. He was ill.very ill. In fact, he was dying and Silvia had been asking the Droids to help him, but they gave her no response. She kept talking to him, so that he would stay awake, but now he was too weak to even answer. "Dale-Mree! You've got to stay awake! You can't die in here! We're gonna get out, no matter what happens! Nevin will save us. I can feel it." Dale-Mree turned his head and looked at her. He was extremely pale and his eyes were very bloodshot.   
"Nevin," he whispered in a dry voice. "Nevin. Nevin.is.alive."  
"Exactly, so he'll come and save us, right?"  
"He will speak to you."  
"What?"  
"He will speak to you. He will.contact you using the Force."  
"How do you know?"  
Dale-Mree paused and coughed.  
".I sense it... He will definitely try to speak to you."  
"Why won't he speak to you? You're his Master."  
"He will.sense I am ill."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Positive." Dale-Mree closed his eyes and slumped down. Silvia still wasn't very sure what he had meant or how he knew it would happen, but he was always a wise man, even when he was dying, so she was expecting Nevin to contact her using the Force. She sat in the corner and waited.  
  
Nevin woke up in the Ferlazea City Building where he had slept. He was in the big, luxury room where Weavar had taken him. He got out of the soft, red bed and looked out of the window at the beautiful morning sun. Ord Ibanna wasn't a bad place at all and Weavar's magnificent city made it look even better. He would have liked to see what the other cities had looked like before they were the destroyed by the Empire. He got dressed and left the room in search for Weavar.   
"Oh!" said Weavar who jumped out at Nevin from behind a corridor corner. "You're awake!"  
"Err, yeah. Listen, you've been really kind to me, letting me sleep here and everything, but I have to leave as soon as possible, so that I can meet a couple of my friends, who are currently on another planet."  
"Oh, I don't mind. It's been a pleasure having you stay here for the night."  
"Thanks. If I meet anyone in particular I'll tell them of your city."  
"That would be excellent. I suppose you'll be wanting a ship to leave in?"  
"Uh, yes please. What sort have you got?"  
"I have hundreds. The fastest ones are probably the A-Wings. Sorry I have no newer ones, but I don't see the point in using all the best ships in the Galaxy. Some of the older ones can prove to be just as good."  
"I don't mind. I'll just leave in a A-Wing then, if that's all right."  
"Of course it is. Here ya go." He passed Nevin a small key-card. "There's a couple of A-Wings on top of this building. Just take the elevator and use the card to open one of them."  
"Sure. Thanks."  
"You're welcome. Bye."   
"See ya." Nevin walked towards the elevator that was straight ahead of him. Weavar walked away with his normal grin on his face.  
  
Chapter 8 - A Partnership of Contrast  
  
In the Star Fortress, Darth Dredian was now in charge. He had told everyone that Darth F'ror had just passed away from old age and everyone would now do as he said. He hadn't taken an apprentice yet, but there was one young Sith Lord, who he looked down on, more than he did with the others. His name was Darth Trinnus and was a great fighter. He had short blonde hair, a dark tan and always wore black leather. He was mysterious in many ways and although he was young he was still good at fighting. He was better at using guns rather than lightsabres and he was an excellent pilot.   
He walked into Darth Dredian's Throne Room and stood straight.  
"Master," he said. "You wished to see me."  
"Yes," said Darth Dredian softly. "I have a task for you. I would like you to go to Ord Ibanna and find a man named Nevin Karr."  
"Isn't that planet uninhabited, my lord?"  
"Yes, but I sense he is still there.alive."  
"As you wish, my lord. Shall I go in one of the X-Wings?"  
"Err, no. There is a better, faster ship in the Docking Area. It is a blue TT1800, one of the fastest ships around. Use that."  
"Yes, my lord." Darth Trinnus left the room and headed for the Docking Area where he would soon leave in the Blue Talon...  
  
Dale-Mree was getting more ill and Silvia was getting more worried. Nevin still hadn't spoke to her and if he didn't soon, then Dale-Mree would die. His face was as white as flour and his eyes were still extremely bloodshot. He could barely move a muscle in his body and he spent most of his time in his cell sleeping.  
"Dale-Mree!" shouted Silvia trying to wake him up. "Nevin still hasn't talked to me! How long will it take?" Dale-Mree gave no answer. "Will he speak to me soon? We have to let him know where we are or you'll die!" Dale-Mree opened his eyes slightly and looked at her for a while. "Answer me! You can't die Dale-Mree! Not here like this!" He closed his eyes again. Silvia thought it was the end. She was beginning to think that Nevin was already dead and that she and Dale-Mree would soon die here, after the Sith Lords had taken over. All the Jedi would be killed and the Galaxy would never be free from evil. But if Nevin were alive, when would he speak to her? It would have to be very soon, otherwise Dale-Mree would die.  
  
Nevin soared through space in his A-Wing. It would only take about fifteen minutes to get to Ossus and he could already see it way ahead of him. But as he was flying he felt a strange feeling come over him. He felt as if he wasn't.alone. He looked beside him and saw someone who he hadn't seen for ages. It was his brother, Bracken. He stood there like a faded hologram and looked at Nevin.  
"Bracken?" said Nevin amazed. "Is it you?" His eyes lit up in surprise.   
"Yes, Nevin," answered Bracken. "I have come here to give you an urgent message and we cannot speak for long."   
Nevin frowned worriedly.  
"Err, why not?"  
"I'm sorry, Nevin, but I am only here so that you have a chance of saving your friends."  
"What friends? Do you mean Dale-Mree and Silvia?"  
"They have been captured by the Sith."  
"Well where are they?"  
"Dale-Mree is extremely ill and will die if nothing is done soon. You must contact Silvia."   
He began to fade away.  
"No, wait! How can I contact her? Where are they? Don't go, Bracken!" The figure of his brother disappeared and Nevin bashed his hand on the steering-stick in anger. He had no idea how he would contact Silvia and he knew he would have to do it quick, as Dale-Mree's life depended on it. He thought for a while, but his ship suddenly jolted. He quickly looked up and saw what looked like the Blue Talon! "Oh, great. They're trying to kill me by using my own ship!"   
He zoomed forward and dived under it. He quickly sped away in hope that he wouldn't be captured by the supposed Sith Lord. He didn't want to shoot at the attacker, as that would mean he'd have to destroy his own ship, which was something he certainly didn't want to do. The Blue Talon was much faster than his A-wing though, so they were catching up with him quickly. He saw a moon orbiting Ord Ibanna that was quite near to him and it was closer than Ossus. It looked dark and misty, so he might have been able to land and hide from the Sith Lord. He went a full speed and took many hits from behind. The attacker must have had a very good aim, because Nevin was swerving about very quickly as he went along. The black moon grew larger as they got closer to it, but Nevin's ship had lost a lot of power and was gradually slowing down. The attacker radioed in and said, "You won't get away, Mr Karr. I suggest you surrender and let me take you back to Darth Dredian."  
"I'll never give up!" shouted Nevin. "You Sith Lords may think you're real tough, but there's no way you'll be able to take over the Galaxy!"  
"Oh yeah? And why is that?"  
"Because.err. I dunno, but you'll never win!"  
"Oh really?"  
"Yeah, really!"  
"And what makes you think you're so tough, huh?"  
"I'm a Jedi and you'll never kill me, neither will Darth F'ror!"  
"Well, I'll agree with the last part of your sentence, as Darth F'ror is dead!"  
Nevin lowered his eyebrows and thought about what the Sith Lord had just said.  
"Is he?"  
"Yes. He is."  
"Well who's in charge now?"  
"Darth Dredian, and trust me, he's just as good a fighter as what Darth F'ror was, possibly even better!"  
"Well there's no way he'll kill me!"  
"Well he killed your parents!"  
"Well I don't believe that, so shut ya face!"  
"Oh, you don't believe that, eh? I happen to know where they are buried!"  
"Where?"  
"I will never tell a puny, little Jedi like you!"  
"Well I still think it's a big lie! My parents are still alive!"  
"It's such a shame that you're wrong!"   
"Shut ya face." Nevin began to concentrate on where he was flying. They had passed through the atmosphere of the moon and were flying through hundreds of layers of small clouds.  
"What makes you think you'll be able to hide from me on a small moon like this?"  
"What makes you think I'm trying to hide?"  
"Well, you're obviously afraid of me!"  
"I don't think so, buddy. A Jedi is afraid of nothing."  
"Well your parents were afraid when Darth Dredian was about to kill them!"  
"Stop talking about my parents!"  
"Ah, is little Nevin going to cry?"  
"Shut up! When we land I'll kill you within seconds!"   
"Ha, ha, ha! I doubt it, Jedi! I doubt it!"   
Nevin was now only metres above the ground. He tried to get a smooth landing, but his ship was in such a bad state that it scraped and bumped along the ground while shaking him about violently. It came to a halt and he climbed out. He jumped onto the dry, black ground and looked for the Sith Lord. There was fog all around and he could barely see a metre in front of him, but he suddenly saw a red lightsabre ray in the distance. It came closer as the Sith Lord ran closer towards him and he activated his own lightsabre ready for a big duel. But suddenly the other lightsabre stopped and dropped to the ground. There were the sounds of strange creatures lurking about in the fog. Nevin suddenly felt something hard whack his head and then fell over unconscious.   
He awoke in a small metal cage hanging a hundred feet in the air from the ceiling of a massive, underground, cave-like city with hundreds of green, lizard-like people walking about, some working, some just strolling. He could see the other Sith Lord in a cage also hanging from the ceiling about ten feet away. He was awake as well and was crouched down looking down at the city. Nevin had to make a plan to get out; otherwise the vicious creatures below might have eaten him. He'd have to it quickly as well, as Dale-Mree was dying, which suddenly reminded him of what his brother had said. He had to speak to Silvia somehow, but right now it seemed impossible. But then he remembered something that Dale-Mree had told him about, years and years ago. There were ways of speaking to other Jedi through the mind, by using the Force. If he tried hard enough he might just about be able to find out where the Jedi population was being held. He concentrated on Silvia and at the same time he pushed with the Force.  
  
Back at the Underground Kingdom, Silvia could feel a strange energy surrounding her. She thought hard and heard the faint whispering of Nevin. She couldn't make out what he was saying, so she just thought of the word, 'Gruesk,' hoping that he would hear her. That way he would at least know where the Jedi were being held.   
  
He heard the sound of Silvia saying, "Gruesk' over and over again. What was 'Gruesk?' Was it the name of a person? Was it where the Jedi were being kept? Was it some sort of code? Whatever it was it must have been important and he desperately wanted to get off of this moon. He looked down and saw all the lizard people - whatever they were - and wondered if any of them would help him. But by the looks of the city they weren't very friendly people and would show no mercy to Humans like himself. One of them - a male - began floating in the air suddenly. He had some sort of backpack with a propeller coming out of it, which made him hover about wherever he wanted to go. He zoomed up to Nevin's cage and stared at him with an evil look in his snake-like eyes.   
"You Humans gonna be EATEN!" he said in a high-pitched screech. "Every last bone of ya is gonna be eating by US!" Nevin didn't want to say anything back to the person. He looked like the sort of species that could get agitated very easily. "And don't ya be trying to escape! Otherwise I'll kill ya!"  
"But aren't you going to kill us anyway?" said Nevin, who couldn't stop himself from asking.  
"NO! I'm gonna eat ya!"  
"Right," Nevin replied as he stretched the word. These strange people obviously weren't very bright, or at least the one who had just spoken wasn't. It floated back down to the city and landed rather gracefully. Nevin looked at the Sith Lord and thought for a second. Although he was a dark, evil man he may have been willing to join Nevin to help each other escape. Nevin had a plan, but it would only work if he had help from him.  
"Hey!" he shouted loudly. "I know you're a Sith Lord and everything, and you're supposed to be - ya know - evil, but we both want to get out of this place and our only chance of escaping is if we help each other out."  
"What are you talking about, stupid Jedi?" asked the Sith Lord in a miserable tone as he glared at Nevin. "You want us to help each other escape?"  
"Well, yeah. Neither of us will be able to get out of this place on our own."  
"Well what do you plan to do?"  
"Uh, you do still have your lightsabre, don't you?"  
"Yes. Of course I do. You didn't think that those stupid Irts down there took it, did you?"  
"Is that what they're called? Irts?"  
"Yeah, this is the moon of Adrada and the creatures that inhabit it aren't too smart when keeping their prisoners. Do you still have your lightsabre?"  
"Yeah."  
"So how we gonna escape?"  
"Well we need to get down from here without hurting ourselves."  
"And how do we do that?"  
"Well there's a wall right near us, but it slopes to the side, so it's closer to you. If you were to burn a hole in your cage with your lightsabre you could jump over to it. You'd be able to stab your sabre into it, so that you don't fall. Only you can do that though, as I won't be able to make the jump."  
"And then what do you want me to do?"  
"Well, I'll throw my lightsabre to you, so that you can easily move around the wall by using both the sabres. I'll jump onto your back and you'll climb down to the city. You'll give me my lightsabre back and we'll fight our way out. We'll go back to the Blue Talon and we'll be able to escape!"  
The Sith Lord lowered an eyebrow.  
"And you believe that will actually work?"  
"Well, maybe. It's a long shot, but there's not many other ways. Do you have any suggestions?"  
"Nope, none at all. Let's try out your way. Oh and by the way, the name's Darth Trinnus."  
"Pleased to meet you. My name's Nevin Karr."   
"Really." Darth Trinnus activated his red lightsabre and burned the wooden bars of his cage and made a hole, big enough for him to fit through. He leaped out and lifted his sabre in the air. He quickly dug it into the rock wall and hung there for a while.  
"Okay," said Nevin as he activated his sabre. "Just hang on a minute." He also burned a hole facing the wall in his cage. He deactivated his sabre and chucked it at Darth Trinnus. He just about caught it in one hand and activated it again. He used both the sabres to move along to the left, until he was in line with Nevin.  
"Okay," he said as he hung. "Jump on."  
Nevin looked at the wall and bit his lip.  
"Err, I hate to tell you this, but I don't think I can."  
"What are you talking about? You said you could before."  
"Well I didn't realise it was such a big jump. There's no way I'll make it."  
Darth Trinnus sighed and shook his head, before he suddenly looked up at Nevin.  
"Hey, wait a minute! You made me do this on purpose, didn't you! You tricked me!"  
"No! I swear I didn't!"  
"Well jump then!"  
"Okay, okay!" Nevin swung his arms back a couple of times and remembered what Gansh had taught him on Talasea about using the Force to move long distances. He leaped out of his cage and landed straight on Darth Trinnus' back. He held on tight.  
"See!" said Darth Trinnus. "What did I tell ya?"  
"Yeah, yeah, you were right. Now quickly get down to the city."   
Darth Trinnus moved slowly down by using both the lightsabres to stick into the wall. It was a long, long way down and Nevin was worried that they would soon be caught by the flying Irt that had threatened to eat them. And they were. It soon came flying above them with a blaster gun in its hands.  
"Ya ain't gettin' away that easily!" it shouted in its high voice. It began to fire at them continuously.   
"What are we gonna do?" panicked Nevin, who kept fidgeting on Darth Trinnus' back.  
"I dunno!" he shouted. "You're supposed to be the one with the brains!" He tried to move down the wall more quickly, but it didn't make much difference. Luckily the Irt had a bad shot, but it would get them eventually if they didn't do something soon. So Darth Trinnus pulled both the lightsabres out of the wall and he began to fall very fast with a screaming Nevin on his back. They fell and they fell and they fell, until they were almost at the ground. Darth Trinnus stuck both the lightsabres back into the wall and they hang there again, but this time they were only about five feet from the ground. He took the sabres out again and they landed softly on their feet.  
"Great thinking, Trinnus," said Nevin. "Now gimme my lightsabre.please." Trinnus handed him his lightsabre and they began to fight as Irts began to shoot and stab at them with their handmade weapons. They both ran around looking for an exit while they lunged at brawling opponents. Nevin spotted a tunnel with light at the end of it.  
"Over here!" he shouted to Darth Trinnus, who was happily slaughtering the Irts.  
"Wait a sec!" he replied as he finished off just one more victim. He joined Nevin and they ran down the tunnel as fast as they could, until they came back into the foggy outside world where they'd been before.  
"How do we get back to the Blue Talon?" asked Nevin, who was worried that their escape may be let down by this one little thing.  
"Don't worry," answered Darth Trinnus. "I have a telereck. I've planted a small chip in the ship, which sends a message to this receiver, so I know where it is. Apparently it's that way." He pointed into the fog.  
"You're pretty smart for a Sith Lord," said Nevin. "Let's go!" They ran in the direction where Darth Trinnus' receiver told them, in hope that the Blue Talon would still be there.  
They soon found it still intact.   
"Pass me the keys," said Nevin as he stood by the driver's door. Darth Trinnus passed him the keys and he opened the door. Suddenly there was a rustle coming from inside and a loud bleeping noise. The two men activated their lightsabres ready to attack, but a golden Protocol Droid and a green and white Astromech Droid came out.  
"Oh my God," said Nevin. "Not you guys. I shouldn't have even borrowed you."  
"Who are these?" asked Darth Trinnus confused. "Do you know them?"  
"Yeah," answered Nevin. "I borrowed them both from President Han and Leia Solo. I only need the little green one, but the other one insisted he came too."  
"Yes," said C-3GA. "I am C-3GA and this is my friend, R2-S2. We were hiding in the back storage room, so those dumb Sith Lords didn't find us. Ha! Sith Lords think they're so clever, but I bet they'd find it difficult to work out one plus one!"  
"Ha, ha, ha," said Darth Trinnus sarcastically. "Good one. You're soooo funny. My sides almost split there."  
"Did they?" asked C-3GA. "Sorry, I hope I didn't hurt you in any way, sir. Are you alright?"  
"Shut up, C-3GA," said Nevin. "We've gotta find the Jedi. Oh yeah, that reminds me. Trinnus, does the word 'Gruesk' mean anything to you?"  
"Yeah, that's the planet on which Darth Dredian's Death Palace is."  
"Don't you mean, Darth F'ror?"  
"Nope, he died of a heart attack or something. Darth Dredian is the leader of the Sith now."  
Nevin frowned.  
"Heart attack? He wasn't that old, was he? .Anyway, do you know where the Jedi are being held?"  
"Yeah, they're also on Gruesk."  
"Well then, let's go! C'mon!"  
"Err, there are billions of them, Nevin, and they are heavily guarded by Droids. There is no way you will be able to save them on your own."  
"Well how can we save them?"  
"I don't know. You'll obviously need a very big army and billions of gigantic ships though."  
"Hmm, I'll think of something. In the meantime, where shall I drop you off? You're still going to stay with the Sith Lords aren't you?"  
"Yeah, I have to. But I have to admit, you're not a bad guy at all, Nevin. And we may be friends, but I have no choice."  
"So where shall I take you? Sorry, but I think it would be a teeny weenie little bit dangerous if I were to drop you off at the Star Fortress."  
"Yeah. I'll tell you what. Seeing as I'm your friend, I'll help you set the Jedi free."  
Nevin stared at him with his eyes wide open.  
"You would do that?"  
Trinnus shrugged.  
"Well.yeah."  
"Well if you're willing enough to do that then why don't just turn to the Light Side and join me and my friends? You don't seem evil at all!"  
"Yeah, but I'm worried that Darth Dredian will try to kill me."  
"Well of course he'll try and kill you, but if you turn to the Light Side you won't worry about it any more. Us Jedi are calm and fearless. Please, Trinnus. You're obviously a good fighter and you'd be a lot of help in big fights and battles."  
Trinnus shook his head slowly.  
"Sorry, Nevin. I can't do it."  
"Please.My friend is dying right now. You could help him."  
"That's what I said I would do. I will help you set the Jedi free and that's it. Then I'll go back to the Star Fortress or the Death Palace, depending on whether Darth Dredian has taken over the Galaxy or not. Now c'mon, let's just go and find someone who can help us."  
".Alright."   
They all got back into the Blue Talon and Nevin took off. They left Adrada and headed for the Unknown Regions of the Galaxy.  
  
Chapter 9 - The Rescue of the Jedi   
  
Back at the Star Fortress, Darth Ralmon walked into the Throne Room and saluted Darth Dredian.  
"Master," he said in a clear voice. "We are in the Core Worlds."  
"Good," replied Darth Dredian as he tapped his fingers together. "Tell Captain Garada that my protectors and I wish to board the Drieros Building immediately."  
"Yes, sir."   
He walked out of the Throne Room and headed for the Ship Sector of the Palace. Now was the time when Darth Dredian would finally take over the Republic.  
  
The Blue Talon zoomed into Hyperspace (a certain point beyond the speed of light). Nevin looked at his Star Map to see if there were any recognisable planets nearby, but they were in the Unknown Regions, so there were only a few places that it could name, like Lwhekk and Voreer. Nevin knew that Lwhekk was populated by nasty, dragon-like beasts that certainly wouldn't help him set the Jedi free. As for Voreer, well he'd never heard of it and neither had Darth Trinnus, but it was a large planet, so the people populating it might have many large ships that would be able to fly to Gruesk and rescue the Jedi.  
"Shall we go to Voreer?" he asked. "We can't go to Lwhekk; it's populated by evil dragons."  
"Actually they're called Ssi-Ruuk."  
"Well anyway, we have to go to Voreer."  
"That's fine by me, but how can you be sure they'll be able to help us?"  
"I can't. We'll just have to pray that they are an advanced people and that they have lots of large ships. After all, there's billions of Jedi to be saved, so we'll need billions of ships."  
"Alright then, go to Voreer." Nevin put the Blue Talon onto autopilot, so that it would head straight to Voreer. Then they waited.  
After a short while they were above the capital city, Ennelle. Voreer was a planet covered in oceans and small, rocky continents. The Blue Talon soon landed next to the large mouth of a cave, which lead into the city.  
"Ah great," said Darth Trinnus. "Another underground city." But Ennelle was actually a very pretty city. It was built upon a clear, reflective, beautiful, underground lake and was populated by millions of friendly humans. Nevin and Darth Trinnus looked around.  
"What do we do?" asked Darth Trinnus to Nevin. "Do we have to find the King or Queen?"  
"I suppose so, but how are to do that? It's not like we're gonna be able to just walk up to him of her and ask for help."   
"Yeah, you're right, we'll - hey! That's her over there!"  
"Who?"  
"The Queen! Or at least it looks like the Queen. She's being cheered by everyone, she's surrounded by guards and she has a crown."  
"Should we go and ask her?"  
"Ask her what?"  
"You know. Ask her if she can help us free the Jedi."  
"I doubt that she'll help us."  
"Why?"  
"I dunno. Would you send out billions of your best and most expensive ships just to help two guys?"  
"They wouldn't be helping us. They'd be helping the whole Jedi population. The Queen would be considered a great heroine by everyone."  
"Well you ask."  
"Why me?"  
"Well you're a Jedi. I'm a Sith Lord."  
"Well she won't notice. You don't exactly look like a Sith Lord."  
"Okay then, we both go and ask her."  
"Alright then. C'mon."   
They walked towards her. She was sitting at a large Throne in the middle of a large City Square. She had short brown hair and wore a long, white robe and a crown on her head. She was speaking to her people about something that sounded rather important.  
"My people," Queen Drinia shouted in a loud voice. "Many people were tragically killed a few days ago when hundreds of Sith Lords came and kidnapped all of our Jedi Knights and Masters. There were over a thousand of them and they have all been kidnapped. We must get revenge. We must get them back, as they were the City's protectors and every single one of them deserves to live on. Unfortunately we have no idea where they have been taken, but is probably somewhere in these Unknown Regions of the Galaxy."  
"Oh my God!" whispered Nevin to Darth Trinnus. "They also want to set the Jedi free! This is wonderful! They'll certainly help us!"  
"Should we tell them where the Jedi are being kept?"  
"Yeah, I'll tell them.Excuse me! Sorry to interrupt, your Majesty, but I have something very important to tell you. My friend here and I are both Jedi. You may or may not know that your planet was not the only one to have all of its Jedi kidnapped. Every Jedi in the Galaxy has been kidnapped, except for my friend and I. I am Nevin Karr and he is - err - Luke Skywalker. We have been trying to find someone who can help us set the other Jedi free, but have had no luck, until now. We know that they are on the planet, Gruesk, but they are heavily guarded in the Underground Kingdom, which is actually a massive prison and our only hope of saving them is with help from a big population of people like yourselves. I beg you to come with us to Gruesk and set them free." Queen Drinia looked at the two of them and smiled.  
"My people and I would be happy to help you. Every single Jedi deserves to live, so we will do our best in saving them. We have billions of gigantic ships, which are in a secret, underground Docking Bay. We also have many strong people here and they will help fight whoever is guarding the Jedi."  
"Thank you, your Majesty," said both Nevin and Darth Trinnus.  
"It is getting dark," she said. "I presume you are tired?"  
"Err, yes, your Majesty," answered Nevin. "We have travelled all over the place in the past hours."  
"Well then," she said. "You may stay here in my city for the night. Tomorrow morning we will set out straight away. You do know where this planet, Gruesk is, don't you?"  
"Yes, your Majesty."  
"Good. My Royal Star Leaders will arrange who is going to go there with you. We will send as many people as possible, so that the Jedi are freed quickly."  
"Thank you, your Majesty." Nevin and Darth Trinnus were taken to their rooms where they would sleep for the night. In the morning they would finally leave for Gruesk and set the Jedi free. Everything was going to plan.  
  
At the Drieros Building on Coruscant, Darth Dredian had been threatening the Presidents of the New Republic.  
"You must remind yourselves," he said with his protectors by his side. "I will kill the Jedi if you do not give me the Throne." President Han and Leia spoke silently to each other.  
"I don't think we should do it," whispered Han. "If you let him take over the Galaxy he'll only make things be like they used to. He'll order the Galaxy just like Emperor Palpatine did."  
"We have no choice, Han," she said. "He said that he'll kill the Jedi if we don't do it."  
"But he'll kill them anyway. He's evil."  
"No. I sense that he won't. Something will prevent him from doing it."  
"What will prevent him from doing it?"  
"I don't know, but we have to give him the Throne anyway."  
"Why?"  
"Because we have no choice. He's worked too hard to get all this way and loose. The Jedi will escape, and they'll destroy the Sith Lords no matter what. Then we'll get the Throne back and the New Republic will rule again."  
"But you can't be sure of that. These guys won't be as easy to beat as what the Empire was."  
"It doesn't matter. There is no way that the Sith will control the Galaxy forever. We'll stop them some day. Just let me give him the Throne for now."  
"Alright then. Let him have it." Leia looked at Darth Dredian and said, "Darth Dredian, we have decided that we have no choice but to give you the Throne. You will not have it for long though."  
"Really?" said Darth Dredian with his usual evil smile. "What makes you think that?"  
"The Jedi will kill all the Sith, including you."  
"I don't think that will happen. Now, Darth Keuf, go and tell the other Sith Lords that I have won. Tell them that I am now the ruler of the Galaxy and that I wish to have the whole building demolished. As for the New Republic Leaders, well, they will leave right away."  
"You can't demolish his building!" shouted one of the Republic Governors. "It is where all the decisions are made!"  
"I make the decisions now. I will have a large Palace built here and the one on Gruesk can remain there if I need it for some unknown reason. For now, I will live in the old Imperial Base Column on the Equator of Coruscant. As I said, you lot must leave, including the Presidents. Bye, bye!" It was as easy as that. The New Republic was no more and the Galaxy was ruled by Darth Dredian. As Leia had said, the Jedi would do everything in their power to get it back. That is, if the Jedi survived.  
  
Back on Voreer, a large area of the ground suddenly opened up, revealing billions of gigantic, blue passenger ships. Captain Farral stood by the edge of the gigantic pit. He was a bearded man and was to be the leader of this mission. Nevin stood beside him and looked as the massive blue ships all hovered out the pit.  
"So when do we leave?" he asked Captain Farral. "Luke is waiting for me in the Blue Talon."  
"Well everything seems to be ready," replied Farral. "So you may leave right away. The ships will follow you."  
"Are you going?"  
"Of course I am. I'm in charge of the mission."  
"Oh yeah. Do you think it'll be a success?"  
"I'm not sure. It depends if we can get past the Droids that are patrolling the Underground Kingdom."  
"I reckon we can do it."  
"I'm glad ya think that, kid. I'm fairly confident too. You better go now. The pilots are waiting. I'll be flying near you in my Voreer Star Cruiser."  
"Alright. I'll see ya soon."  
"Good luck." Nevin ran to the Blue Talon, which was parked outside the city. He got into he driver's seat.  
"What took you so long?" asked Darth Trinnus. "I've been waiting here for ages!"  
"Sorry, I was talking to Captain Farral about the mission. It's okay for us to take off now."   
"Well do it then. I wanna get back to Gruesk as quickly as possible." The Blue Talon took off and all the billions of large ships began to follow him into space.  
  
Meanwhile, Darth Dredian was arranging a his knew home in the abandoned Imperial Palace while many of his newly found slaves were building him a gigantic building on Coruscant. Everything was going perfectly to plan and it was as easy to persuade the Presidents to give him the Galaxy than he'd ever imagined. Captain Frovesk was his messenger and loyal leader of the Sith Fleet. He was a man of about forty-five and had prickly stubble all over his chin. His hair was grey/black and his face was very wrinkly and rugged. He had designed the Star Fortress and was a very intelligent man, but he was extremely scared of Darth Dredian. He walked into the main hall of the Imperial Palace slowly and nervously. What he had come to ask Darth Dredian wasn't even anything that would make him angry, but he was still scared that the evil Sith Master would do something terrible to him.  
"Master," he said as he began to shiver uneasily. "Err, now that - err - you have taken over the Galaxy, we no longer need - err - I mean, the Jedi - err - what should we do with them?"  
"What?" said Darth Dredian with a confused look. "What are you talking about?"  
"The Jedi, my lord. Do we need them?"  
"Ah, I see. No we don't. Go with the Sith Fleet to Gruesk and kill them all."  
"Yes, my lord. Err - how shall I kill them?"  
"I don't know. Bomb them or something. It's up to you, so do it how ya like, but make sure they all die."  
"Yes, my lord."  
"Oh and try and see if you can find the whereabouts of Darth Trinnus. He's been gone for a very long time and I fear he is dead."  
"I will - err - do my best, my lord."  
". Actually, I will come with you."  
"Excuse me, my lord?"  
"I will go with you to Gruesk. It would be a great pleasure to see all those Jedi die before me."  
"As you wish, my lord. Shall we go now?"  
"Yes. Tell your fleet that I wish to go immediately. Ha, ha, ha. The Jedi will at last be forgotten!"  
  
On Gruesk though, Captain Farral's huge group of blue Passenger Ships landed on Gruesk, spread around the area of thousands of holes leading into the immense Underground Kingdom. Large doors opened at the bottom of every single one of the ships and became staircases leading inside them. Everything was silent as Captain Farral stepped out of his small ship. He looked around and held a small radio-transmitter to his mouth and said, "Ready men! Move, move, move!" Billions of soldiers came down the staircases of each ship and held guns in their hands. "Team A, enter at holes A1 to C684! Team B, enter at holes C685 to F112! Team C, enter at holes F113 to J111! Team D, enter at holes J112 to L849!" Farral's commands went for ages, while millions of soldiers ran into various holes leading into the Underground Kingdom. Nevin and Darth Trinnus activated their lightsabres and ran down the nearest hole to them. They fought hundreds of tall Droids and set as many Jedi free as possible.   
The battle went on for ages and after about two hours Nevin reached the cells of his two friends, Dale-Mree Jinn and Silvia Arala.  
"Nevin!" cried Silvia excited. "Get Dale-Mree! He's very sick!" Nevin slashed at a small identification machine, so that he could get into Dale-Mree's cell. He tossed him over his shoulder and gave him a fireman's carry. He then set Silvia free and they ran together down the maze-like corridors, setting prisoners free as they went. Suddenly they bumped into Captain Farral.  
"Nevin!" he said. "Get back to your ship! The Sith Lords have arrived!"  
"What?" said Nevin. "But we can't leave without every single Jedi here!"  
"Don't worry! They've all been saved. Just get back to your ship as soon as possible!"   
"Okay!" Nevin, Silvia, Darth Trinnus and Captain Farral all ran back down the long corridor in which they'd came. They ran outside and saw thousands of Sith Lords trying to destroy the blue Passenger Ships. Then they suddenly noticed the most evil man in the Galaxy standing about thirty metres away from them.  
"You stupid Jedi will not get away with this!" he shouted loudly. "I will kill you all someday!"  
He squinted and then frowned.   
"Hey," he said, "Darth Trinnus? Is that you? Get over here, you stupid idiot! What are you doing with those Jedi!"   
Darth Trinnus looked at the others and said, "Sorry, guys. I guess this is goodbye." He slowly walked towards Darth Dredian.  
"What the hell were you doing with those Jedi!" he shouted at him. "Why did you not kill them you idiot! In fact, kill them now! Kill them!"  
Darth Trinnus looked around at his master and then turned around to face his friends. "Go on then! Kill them!"  
He looked at Darth Dredian again.  
"No," he said. "I will never kill them, you ugly fool!" He ran back to the Blue Talon with his new friends, while Darth Dredian stared at him in anger and then walked away back to the Sith Spacecraft.  
"I'll get you someday, Darth Trinnus!" he shouted. All the Passenger Ships took off, as did the Blue Talon and Captain Farral's Voreer Star Cruiser. The mission was a success and almost every single Jedi was okay. Dale-Mree was still ill, but he could talk a bit better. He opened his eyes and looked at Nevin.  
"Well done.Nevin," he said in a quiet voice. "Did you - did you finish.your training?"  
"Yes, Master" replied Nevin. "But before I am to become a Jedi Knight I must confront a Sith Lord."  
"Darth Dredian," Dale-Mree said as he coughed. "You must confront.Darth Dredian."  
"Why does he have to do that?" asked Silvia. "Is it because of what you said about him being the chosen one, or whatever it was?"  
"Yes," replied Dale-Mree. "Nevin, I have told you this before. You are the only person who will be able to.restore freedom to the Galaxy. The Sith Lords have already taken over the New Republic and Darth Dredian must be destroyed."  
"Yes, Master," agreed Nevin. "I will try my best."  
"No. You will do your best. You of all people should know that there is no try. You either do or you do not."  
"Well I'll do my best. I will kill him if it's the last thing I do." Nevin looked out though the window of the Blue Talon at the millions of ships flying through space. "Oh, by the way, Silvia and Dale-Mree, meet - ahem - Darth Dredian."  
Silvia frowned and smiled at Nevin.  
"He's a Sith Lord?" she asked.  
"I was a Sith Lord," Darth Trinnus corrected her. "You can now call me by the name I was originally born with: Jac Blay."  
"Well then Jac," said Nevin. "Welcome to the team."  
"Thank you, Jac," said Dale-Mree. "Thank you for helping set free the Jedi."  
"You're.err.very welcome. Where are we going now?"  
"Back to Voreer," Nevin said, "so that Dale-Mree can be cured. He is still very ill and needs medication. I'm sure the people of Voreer will be able to help him."  
"Good," said Silvia. "He's been ill for a very long time. I was worried that he might die."  
"I'll be alright," said Dale-Mree and smiled.   
  
They arrived at Voreer and Dale-Mree was taken to a hospital, while Nevin, Silvia and Jac celebrated with the citizens of Ennelle. Most of the Jedi had been returned to their homeworlds by Captain Farral's star fleet, but not everything had been resolved. There was still the Sith Lords to be dealt with and they would not be easy to kill. Nevin certainly didn't fancy having a lightsabre duel with Darth Dredian, but it was his destiny. The Sith Master said that he had killed both his parents. If that were true then he had more the good reason to kill him, but it wouldn't make it any easier. Darth F'ror was said to have been 'indestructible.' He had trained Darth Dredian for over two and a half decades, so his apprentice was bound to be just as good, if not better. But Nevin kept that off of his mind for now. It would be a long time till he would confront him anyway.   
The celebration took place in Ennelle City Square, where millions of people danced, cheered, ate, drank, talked and done all the various things that you would do at a celebration or party.   
But something troubled Nevin. He walked away from the City Square and went down a road leading to the large, rock house that Queen Drinia had let him stay in for the time he would be in Ennelle. He walked inside the cosy place and suddenly sensed someone had followed him. He looked behind him and saw Silvia standing there with her long, shiny hair hanging down her back and a beautiful smile on her face.  
"Oh," she said. "I didn't mean to startle you."  
"You didn't," said Nevin and sat down on a brown stool. "Why did you follow me here?"  
"Sorry. I just wondered why you weren't joining us at the celebration."  
"It's nothing. I just felt like being alone for a little while, that's all."  
"Oh come on. It must be something worse than that. You've just saved the whole Jedi population and you don't want to celebrate because you'd rather be alone?"  
"Err, Silvia, do you think that the Jedi are capable of defeating the Sith?"  
She frowned.  
"Of course! Everyone says that it's extremely tough to destroy a Sith Lord, but to tell you the truth, I doubt it really is."  
"But there could be twice as many Sith Lords as there are Jedi."  
Silvia shrugged her shoulders and lowered her lips.  
"Yeah, so? What are you trying to say? Do you think that we won't win this war?"  
"I dunno. Darth Dredian is an evil, evil man."  
"Oh, you're afraid of fighting him?"  
"Of course not. It's just that it will certainly be difficult to get the Galaxy back from him."  
"Yes, but that doesn't matter, Nevin. You will defeat him."  
"What if I don't?"  
"Well, it's not something you should really worry about."  
"I'm not worrying. It'll be a long time until I confront him and I know that. What I'm trying to say is that he is too powerful for anyone to conquer. The Sith Lords will be ruling the Galaxy for a long time and they won't be defeated until a miracle comes along."  
"But that miracle already has come along. You are that miracle, Nevin. Dale-Mree told me that you have powers unlike any other."  
"I know that. He's told me too."  
"But Darth Dredian was born a normal Jedi. He is not as powerful as some may think."  
"But how would you or Dale-Mree know that. Have you been researching the details of his past life or something?"  
"No Jedi born with amazing skills grows to become a Sith Lord."  
"Well what about Anakin Skywalker? He became Darth Vader, didn't he."  
Silvia paused.  
".That was decades ago and things have changed. The Jedi were thought to be extinct, but as soon as Luke Skywalker founded the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 more and more youngsters grew up to be Jedi just like you and me."  
"But that doesn't make the Sith Lords any easier to kill."  
"There used to be only two Sith Lords at a time: a Master and an Apprentice, but now billions of evil Jedi have all trained to become ones themselves."  
"I know all this, but how does it make things easier?"  
"Because the Dark Side of the Force spreads between the evil. It is shared between everyone, but some get more than others do. The more Sith Lords there are, the less powerful each one is and the less powerful their Master is."  
"Why are you telling me this? We can't defeat them. There are just too many of them and just too little of us."  
"Soon you'll understand, Nevin. Dale-Mree will explain it to you better than I did." She walked away as Nevin watched her and he then lay down on his bed and thought about the future.  
  
Chapter 10 - The Kindrel's Revenge  
  
A large, grey, pointed ship carried a long, metal beam as it flew in between the skyscrapers of Coruscant. It began to slow down as it came near to the massive structure of Darth Dredian's Sith Tower. The Drieros Building had been knocked down in minutes and had been replaced with this massive, steel frame of the Sith Master's new home. He had ordered that it be completed within a week, which was virtually impossible for his slaves do so. He was very stubborn and fussy and wanted everything to be perfect. If anything went wrong he would kill all the slaves (of which there were almost three million) and get another batch of new ones. So far there had been no mistakes though. None of them wanted to die, so they worked as hard as they could.   
There were thousands of large Assembling Ships flying about putting pipes, beams, walls, windows and others things in position. The whole structure, which was five kilometres high had been finished and the bottom quarter of it had all of its floors, ceilings and windows in their proper place. Despite this, when Darth Dredian said he wanted the whole thing finished in a week he meant that he wanted absolutely everything finished. That meant that he wanted all the furniture, computers, carpets, tiles, lights and all the other appliances inside, so that when he arrived it would be perfectly complete, ready for him to begin making new laws and new lives for everyone in the Galaxy. That was why all the slaves were putting so much effort into it. They had five days to go, and would certainly finish putting the windows and floors in, but there wasn't a lot of confidence that they would get all the items and appliances inside.  
From inside the Imperial Palace Lookout Tower he could see it all in the background surrounded by thousands of ships zooming in between the buildings. He picked up some Sith Binoculars, looked through and pressed the 'Zoom In' button. The slaves were certainly working hard, but not hard enough in his opinion. He put the binoculars down and got a black, rectangular gadget out from his robes. It had hundreds of tiny buttons, each one with a completely different colour and a different shape. He pressed a red one in the corner and looked back through his binoculars. Suddenly every single slave began to fall on the floor and start shaking rapidly. Their eyes were wide open as they screamed in utter terror and soon they began to stop and die. Darth Dredian laughed in his mind and pressed another button on his black multi-pin and this time a miniature screen came out of the end of it with the hologram of one of his loyal Sith Lords.  
"Darth Lare," he said. "I have killed all the slaves working at the Sith Tower. Get a larger group of new ones."  
"Yes, my lord," answered Lare, a seven-foot-tall, black man with a moustache and an eerie voice. "Shall I get about five million this time, my lord?"  
"Yes, but do it quickly. I must have that building ready within a week."  
"Yes, my lord."   
The screen slotted back into the multi-pin and Dredian looked through the windows again. He couldn't wait until his new home was finished.   
  
The Blue Talon blew sand in all directions as it landed in the outskirts of Mos Eisley. Nevin got out and smelt the foul air, before entering his house. C-3GA and R2-S2 followed him in. He had returned to Tatooine to collect a few of his things while his friends remained on Voreer.   
"Oh dear," said C-3GA as he looked around. "It's rather a mess in here isn't it, sir? Whoever lives here must be awfully untidy."   
"I live here," replied Nevin as he looked around. R2-S2 gave a few squeaks of laughter.  
"Oh," said C-3GA. "Well couldn't you be just a little bit tidier, sir? I am a Protocol Droid and it makes me feel ill whenever I see such a dreadful mess."  
"Yeah? Well we won't be here for long. All I've gotta do is find my lightsabre and a few other things."  
"Good, sir. I do hope you find it soon."  
"Well if you shut up for a sec then I might find it."  
C-3GA looked around at R2-S2 and then looked at Nevin again.  
"Oh, sorry sir."  
Nevin looked underneath his dusty bed and pulled a short, metal rod out. He looked at it and pressed a red button on the side of it. It gave out a long, blue light and he waved it about a little.  
"Yep," he said. "Looks like my trusted lightsabre is still working."  
"Ooh," said C-3GA as he looked at it. "I haven't seen one of those in ages. Well, President Leia has used one a couple of times, but not in a while. I wonder where she is now?"  
"Hey, you've got a point. We don't even know if the Sith Lords have taken over yet. I hope no one was killed."  
"So do I, sir. I have known Presidents Leia and Han for a very long while. It would be a great shame if we lost them."  
Nevin looked into the air.  
"Don't worry, 3GA. I can sense that they're still alive."  
"Does that mean that the Sith haven't taken over yet, sir?"  
"I don't know, but in the meantime we'd better not worry about that. I've gotta get my stuff."  
"Exactly what stuff are you looking for, sir?"  
"There should be a few guns in here somewhere."  
C-3GA waved his stiff arms about.  
"Ooh! I hate guns!"  
"Well in the war to come there'll be lots of 'em, so be prepared."  
Suddenly the door creaked open and the blue, goat-like face of an Unjag peered around.  
Unjags were a strange species. They were rather short and skinny and walked on just one leg. They used just one arm on top of their head to grab things and were found in many different colours according to what type of Unjag they actually were.   
"Err," it said in a loud, Huttese accent. "You Nevin Karr?"  
Nevin looked around and nodded.  
"Yeah, that's me."  
"Jumbilba the Kindrel want to speak to you.now."  
"Tell him I've decided to quit working for him."  
The Unjag paused and frowned.   
".He want to speak to you now."  
"I heard what you said, buddy. Now you hear what I'm saying. I don't work for him anymore."   
The Unjag looked around with his bottom lip hanging down and walked away.  
"I say!" said C-3GA. "Who was that ugly beast?"  
"One of Jumbilba's servants probably. Aha! I've found it!"  
"Found what, sir?"   
Nevin lifted up a long, big, metal gun with a massive barrel.  
"This," he answered. "It's a 9PP9 Missile Launcher, my favourite gun."   
R2-S2 bleeped in amazement.  
"Err," said C-3GA also astounded, "I know I'm not really the sort to know these things, but aren't Jedi supposed to rely only on their lightsabres?"  
"Hell no.! Well, yes actually, but I would think that it's probably fine just to use one if there's no alternative but to die."  
"Oh, I see. Can we go now, sir?"  
"Wait a sec. I've gotta find - "  
"Hey!" interrupted the voice of another Unjag that walked into the house. "Come 'ere!"  
"No!" said Nevin. "Get out of my house, you tiny piece of dribble!"   
"Get the Human and the Droid!" the Unjag shouted and about thirty other Unjags ran in and knocked Nevin over the head with a wooden stick. He fell onto the floor unconscious and they picked him up carefully. They switched C-3GA off with a switch behind his neck and carried him away, but R2-S2 hadn't been noticed, as they all thought he was just some sort of machine or appliance.   
He went outside and saw the Unjags carrying Nevin and C-3GA down the street. He bleeped sadly and wondered what he would do to save them. He rolled around in circles thinking of an idea and decided he should return to Voreer. He got into the Blue Talon, which Nevin had left open, as he would only be rummaging through his house for a short while. R2 sent messages to the ship's control system using a small socket and poked his round head out through a circular hole at the top of the ship, so that he could see where he was going. It had been made illegal for Droids to fly ships without their owner, but this was much too important for him to obey that law. The ship took off and flew into the Tatooine sky.  
  
Kindrels were related to the Hutts, but they were long and worm-like rather than slug-like. Their only arms, which were placed just below their head, were much longer as well, but they were much less intelligent than their slimy cousins were. They had originated from the marshy planet of Kind, but the Empire destroyed it, three years after the Battle of Endor. Now trillions of them had moved to the Outer Rim Territories to wet places like Dagobah, Naboo and Barab 1. They were not very clever, but they always seemed to find a way of making themselves successful.   
Jumbilba, for example, was a male Kindrel. He was brought up in the swamps of Kind and he left at the age of nine to go to Tatooine where he could find a job. He spoke with Jabba the Hutt and was considered to be the sort of person who would be good at ordering people around. That was all it took for him to become leader of Eisley Spaceport 2, as the Hutts and the Kindrels got along together very well. Years later he was so rich that he took over the palace of the now dead Jabba and enjoyed life a lot. But it was too far away from Mos Eisley, so he moved out and had another palace built on the fringes of the city. This was where he spent most of his life, exercising and having fun. That was one of the things that made Kindrels and Hutts so different; the Kindrels liked to keep fit, whereas the Hutts preferred to relax and eat all of the time.  
Jumbilba's Palace was almost a complete replica of Jabba's. It was cylindrical and slightly domed at the top, with a few towers surrounding it, but inside it was completely different. It was yellow in the Main Palace Room and was quite lonely compared to Jabba's, where hundreds of different species liked to hang out. In here the only people were Jumbilba and four of his Zenga servants. That was all. He liked to have a much more private life than Jabba did and didn't like visitors...   
The first thing that Nevin saw when he woke up was the big, round face of a Zenga servant. Zengas were short, red, human-shaped people with wrinkles all over their bodies. The one that Nevin was staring at looked confused and surprised as he or she began to jump up and down excitedly.   
"Who are you?" Nevin said as he rubbed the bump on his forehead. "Where am I? What's going on?"  
"I asked exactly the same questions, sir," said C-3GA, who walked up to Nevin in the small, white, rounded cell. "But this little person wouldn't tell me."  
"Well of course they won't tell you. It's a strange, little alien and it can't understand us."  
"But, sir, did you not know that I am fluent in over six million forms of communication?"  
Nevin thought for a second.  
"Uh.no. Can you speak to them?"  
"Why yes, sir. But as I said before, they won't tell me why we are here."  
"Is it a he or she?"  
"It is neither, sir. It is a Zenga, so it is asexual, meaning it has two sexual organs, which it uses to mate alone. It usually mates during the eighth year of its life and-"   
"Okay, okay, I get the picture. Now is there a way of getting out of this place?"  
"Not that I know of, sir." The Zenga was standing in front of the door with a vicious look on its face. "That little thing is guarding the door and it has a dagger by its side, so I suggest we don't confront it with violence or any means of-"  
"Yeah, yeah. How long have we been here?"  
"Why, I have no idea, sir. I was switched off and time goes past like nothing. I could be switched off for a hundred years and then awaken, but it would seem like only seconds."  
"Well we haven't been in here for a hundred years, that's for sure."  
"But what if we have, sir? You never know the amount of possibilities. While you were asleep they may have put you in suspended animation, so that you don't age. They may have taken you out after hundreds of years and put you in here, where you just woke up."  
"Hmm, I wonder if the Sith Lords are still in charge of the Galaxy."  
"Err, sir, I was only saying that as a possibility. I doubt you were really suspended in time for a hundred years."  
Nevin rolled his eyes.  
"I know that, you dumb idiot! I was just joking."  
"Well now is really not a good time to start joking, sir. We should start thinking of a way to get out of here."  
"But that's what I said just now!"  
"Really, sir? Sorry, I'm getting old and I can't take in information as quickly as I used to."   
"Just shut up for a second. I'm trying to think. Wait a sec! Where's R2?"  
"I was asking myself exactly the same question a couple of minutes ago, sir. Perhaps he's been taken to some other place."  
"Why would he be put in a different place to us?"  
"I really don't know, sir. Perhaps he holds some vital information."  
"Yeah, perhaps. Are you sure that little Zenga won't tell you a thing?"  
"Quite sure, sir. I asked it many questions, but it wouldn't say a single thing."  
"Are you sure it understood you?"  
"Of course, sir. I could tell by its facial expressions that it could certainly perceive my use of communication and indications. I could also tell that it was fully-"  
"Okay, okay! Why do you always have to go on and on?"  
"Well you asked me a question, sir. I presumed you would like a full explanation of the answer."  
"Yes or no would have been okay."  
"Oh. Alright then... Yes. Was that okay, sir?"  
"Yeah, whatever. Now try and think of a way of getting out of this place."  
"Don't you think we should wait, sir? Maybe someone will come along and take us to the leader of this place."  
"Yeah, you might be right." He slumped back down on the soft, white seat and lifted his head up in boredom. He then remembered who had taken him here: the Unjags. There was only one person who used Unjags to capture people. and that was Jumbilba. It must have been him. They had been talking about him anyway, so there was absolutely no doubt at all. "Ah damn!"  
C-3GA looked at him.  
"What's the matter, sir?"  
"It's Jumbilba."   
C-3GA turned his head confused.  
"Jumbilba? Who's he?"  
"A Kindrel. An evil Kindrel. He used to be my boss when I was working as a pilot and he was one of the cruellest types of animal in Mos Eisley. He's more cruel than what Jabba was."  
"Oh I doubt that, sir. I happen to have met Jabba a fair few times and there is no one crueller than he is. You know, he once tried to take R2 and me as prisoners. He even took President Han and Leia, and Luke Skywalker. All those people are famous now."  
"I know. But you've got to believe me. He will kill us. He will kill us both."  
"But what does he want us for?"  
"I think it has something to do with me not telling him that I had quit my job. You see, I was going to go to planet Jarra to collect some powerful and illegal drugs for him. They needed to be collected by the evening, otherwise they would be taken away by his sister, Hossal, who was a master crime lord. He was counting on me to go to there and get them from some weird palace before she did, but I met Silvia in the desert and I left to go to Yavin 4. I never returned to Tatooine, until now and I suspect Jumbilba didn't get those drugs. He will hold me responsible and is likely to kill me in one of the worst ways possible."  
"What's the worst way to die, sir?"  
Nevin sighed.  
"I have no idea, C-3GA, and I just hope I never find out. Only I will."  
"Well what about me?"  
"He won't consider you a good Droid to have around in the Palace, so he's likely to have you crushed or something."  
C-3GA stepped back, startled.  
"That's terrible!"  
"I know... So much for me making sure you don't get destroyed. What are the Presidents going to think?"  
"I don't know. Oh, why did I even come with you to this horrible place!? I'm going to die, after all these years of a wonderful life.it's going to be over!"  
"Don't worry, just calm down. We'll think of something."  
"A GONGA JIN OC FRAD, NEVIN KARR!" boomed a loud voice coming from a tele-voice in the ceiling. "OC IR GON KIGID COPADANZ!" The Huttese language would have translated, 'I don't think you will, Nevin Karr. You are to be killed!'  
"Who was that?" asked C-3GA nervously. "Was that Jumbilba?"  
"Sure was... Looks like I'm finally going to become one with the Force. Boy I can't wait."   
The short Zenga stepped aside as the mechanical door lifted. Nevin and C-3GA walked slowly out of the room and came to a ladder leading up a long, narrow tunnel.  
"I'm not perfectly sure I will be able to climb that, sir," said C-3GA as he looked up. "What do you suggest I do?"  
"I don't know, but I'm not carrying you," answered Nevin while he began climbing the ladder. "Besides, it's me he wants, not you."  
"But you said that I was going to be killed too!"  
"Do you want to be killed?"  
"No."  
"Then stay down there." But just as he was climbing the ladder loads of smoke began surrounding him. After a few seconds he was somehow standing in front of Jumbilba in a big, yellow room.  
"IFOF JO KAGDA TELEGONGADA BON," he said with his wide, slimy mouth dripping with white foam. He had said, 'That's my new teleportation device.' "GON OC HASDA MON?" ('Do you like it?')  
"Real clever, Jumbilba," answered Nevin, ".whatever it did. Now what are ya gonna do to me? Throw me into the pit of Karkoon?"  
"POND?" ('What?') "NIN YA, NEVIN. OPIF DINOG HAJ WAA KOGGSY!" ('No way, Nevin. That would be too generous!')  
"What have you done with my lightsabre? And my 9PP9 Missile Launcher?"  
"DO, AQQ KOL HAJ OL NIN TERE KINDAGIN." ('Oh, they will be of no use anymore.'") "KINDYA, OPTA LOFFTEE NOG POOD SUQASAP. OFT DEFF OC GIGF IPTA AB POOD IAG OFODA GOPRITF FAF A KILADRA BIN MOOCHA. A CAX OC POOD YAZ WERF ANC AB, MAS OC GOF POOD SEE OCJA ODIA ZWER KAPA ITISAE NIMBAJHAR. A KOODSI FOLLER GOPRITF, NEVIN. A KANDERSAL KOODSI GARGA." ('Anyway, let's get down to business. It seems you didn't want me to have those drugs that I wanted so much. I pay you to do jobs for me, but you decide to change your mind and go off elsewhere. I needed those drugs, Nevin. I literally needed them."  
"No you didn't," Nevin answered and he spat at Jumbilba's long, slivery tail. "What you literally need is a lightsabre straight through your intestines. How about you pass me mine and I'll do it for you. I'm sure you'll feel a lot better afterwards."  
"FIKOJ OL UOP CHUMF, NEVIN. AL GAJ OTFA LONJO OTFA A TEREL MENG HAJ, FIA JONGITOR BOSHKA WAH AB." ('Enough of the jokes, Nevin. I'm not as stupid as I used to be, so don't mess with me.')   
"Ooh," said Nevin sarcastically. "Please don't kill me! I'm innocent!"  
"POPOS RE, NEVIN! A HEG JOKINO POOD KAIT OC POOD EHER QWER SENTA ZWER NOB OC TERRA A HO POOD HANEIMOD ODSA KENNESCH AB! OPERNAN JAHING OC SAD TAN KAN LIDSAREEF ZWER PORTA POOD AB!" ('That's it, Nevin! I am going to take you to the torture chambers and show you what I do to people who annoy me! Maybe then you will stop playing games and listen to me!')   
"Listen, whatever you want I'll get it for you. Just give me back my lightsabre and we'll talk, okay?"  
"GA! OCAQ JON OCT BUSTA DUR OC PWERAKI AB!" ('No! You've had your chance and you annoyed me!'). Jumbilba clapped his hands four times very quickly and Nevin suddenly flew backwards against the wall with a loud thump. "OC TUN YAS KIROD? GAS PONTEE OIEY OC LARDA EHER CAPSI HEGRE A FE NIBAREE POOD OC! GNO A DIT AB INARERGA GEW A SONN ORTAD OC EN FLORE PO AB QWER SENTA ZWER FJER A EE RASTA OC RONE GAFANALANA ICH KYO KOPSAWER RERER GINF EL GINF, SIRIFSAD OC TIOF FAF GAWA YIPU AF GFER EN ZWER.ERR.EN DAN.ERR.YOB OC!" ('You think that hurt? Well wait until you see the things that I am going to do to you! After I have my daytime nap I will give you a tour of my torture chambers and then I will give you agonising pain that will last for hours and hours, until you won't be able to stand it and.err.it will.err.kill you!').   
Nevin was still in great pain from the mighty blow against the wall and he was soon picked up by a big robotic hand and dragged up a long shaft going up the palace. He was dropped into a small, grey, padded, square room with no features whatsoever. It had no doors or window and had no items inside. If Nevin were to spend the next few hours in here then he would get very bored. He got up on his wobbly, bruised legs and looked around.  
"Damn," he said as he rubbed his painful waist. "Now I've gotta find a way of getting out of this place."  
"OH, OC GOT NAS DERERER ES EOP JADS, NEVIN," said a loud voice coming from nowhere, which could only belong to Jumbilba ('Oh, you won't be needing to do that, Nevin'). "A OTSI ON WIIPOO DA OC!" ('I have a playmate for you!').   
Nevin looked around confused.  
"Playmate? What are you talking about?" He kept looking around himself quickly for anything else in the room. Suddenly one of the pads in the ceiling appeared to open and a short piece of metal fell out. "Call that a playmate? That's my lightsabre!" He picked it up and attached it to his belt.  
"YOPTA ER RENWI, NEVIN. OSALANA TIKI AB PORTA PAM, A JET TOPETAG EB GRENOI ABTALA YOI RATTINS OC NASLA FAF FAW GRER AB OPAMF. TOLA OC TIGGE GAG AD HETER RI, MAS AFA NYAD HEHDITHIG FERRE YOOB A FEAF FEF AB PAM. ONDA LIU AD HATH QWEAR OC? REGPALA?" ('Change of plan, Nevin. Instead of my usual nap, I have decided to entertain myself by watching you play with one of my pets. After you have tried to kill it, but have been decapitated instead, then I will have my nap. How does that sound to you? Okay?')   
"So you're not going to torture me?"  
"OH, OCSA OP UJUJ ROFUNOWO. AB GERAW REWER FAO PORTEE THOIT ASDERFI KINTA. RIGEE POORA LAMDEE ZOBGA TILLO ERA ZIN. OST CALLA TRETIO TERTIA TERSIA POGIN. ENLOAPO TILL ADJA FERA RANSA NICTIN MIMBA XYLAKASH. WERQUOO BOMBADA YA DEEVEIL VIPSOD SHIGA FRAOIT. ADRAD DAGGY STEL BLAD LUNNER DISCWA SEFINO GIM. EMDEEKA AB SILVA LARS DRU RALL. FEEDAL POODO MASSA TOMP TENTA NOIR FROTEL DARCHET FANA ZORB. KROCHWA WINSIN LITTAL BOGG ATLO WANDA. END YOP DRERA MENKEES ARTHWA FORMA FINC." ('Oh, you'll be tortured alright. My pet will pound you to the ground and begin to slowly nibble at you're intestines. After it has finished eating them it will begin to slash at your meaty limbs and devour them as well. After an hour of you being in agonising pain it will start to chew at your face. It will scoop out your eyes with one of its long fingers and eat them. Then it will pull your ears of and eat them too. After it has done that it will finish by sticking its long proboscis up your nose and sucking out every last piece of your brain.')  
"Oh. I see."  
"DANGA, TOROPDA, NIM, REWA, SAN!" ('Five, four, three, two, one!').   
Another one of the pads opened up at the other side of the room. There was the sound of growls and hisses coming from an animal that could only be described as.'evil.' Nevin activated his lightsabre and stood alert, his body still hurting from whatever had pushed him back, downstairs and an ugly beast that looked like a cross between a panther and a beetle stepped out with its yellow eyes glowing evilly. It opened its circular mouth wide, revealing hundreds of its sharp, shiny teeth as it let out a loud, high-pitched shriek of anger and aggression. Nevin gulped and held his lightsabre ready for attack. The beast pounced at him with its claws stretched out in front of its head, but Nevin was quick and he managed to duck and turn around, still with his lightsabre at the ready. It growled as its top lip began to vibrate and then it tried to swipe at him with its long, sharp nails. He hopped back and held his lightsabre in front of him to try to chop the beast's arm off, but instead, the sabre just bounced off of the creature's skin as if it were only made of foam.   
"What the-?"   
"ONGDA, NEVIN, MAS AB RONDA OS WANAM RETE OCFE LOPPER JEDI NIRARF!" ('Sorry, Nevin, but my pet is immune to you're feeble Jedi weapons!') The beast tried to leap at him, but he managed to dodge it again. He knew that he wouldn't be able to hold it off forever, so he tried to escape at the same time. While keeping his eye on the vicious creature he sliced at the padded walls with his sabre. AH, GOR GAF OC TIYK OC FAF DARAND! ONSA TIPER DAS O PORTO GITOGA, ERE FAFIR RITYT REWQUA EN NIM MOTRES RO MARBA STEL! HA, HA, HA!" ('Ah, so now you think you can escape! That might prove a little difficult, as behind each pad is three metres of solid steel! Ha, ha, ha!') But Jumbilba was partly wrong. The pads, which had opened up didn't have lots of steel behind them and they were still open. The one that the beast had came from wouldn't prove very useful, but the one on the ceiling that the lightsabre had fallen from was big enough for a human to climb up, so Nevin decided to slice little notches into the padding. While doing this he kept jumping out of the beast's way and made sure he wasn't hurt. Jumbilba, who was watching the whole thing through a hidden camera, was starting to get annoyed that there had been no blood or gore so far. The beast could usually catch its prey fairly easily, but this time Nevin seemed too quick for it.   
  
Meanwhile, R2-S2 had arrived at Voreer and told the others of Nevin and C-3GA, so Dale-Mree (who had recovered from his illness), Silvia and Jac were on their way to Tatooine. They flew in the Blue Talon and went at top speed. They needed to save their friend as quickly as possible.  
  
Nevin climbed the padded wall using the little notches he had made with his lightsabre. The beast was about to make another pounce, but he managed to jump towards the centre of the ceiling and grab onto the pad that was hanging down where it had been opened. He pulled himself up through the long tunnel and the beast almost managed to bite his feet off, but fortunately he was fast enough to get away.  
"ERR, YOTSANF! JON OCREE!" ('Err, guards! Get him!") Nevin pulled himself up the tunnel while Jumbilba and the beast watched him annoyed. But the Kindrel realised where the tube led: The Torture Chambers!   
  
The Blue Talon landed outside the massive Palace and the three Jedi came out with lightsabres in their hands.   
"This way!" said Dale-Mree as he ran towards the grand doors of the magnificent Palace. All of them knocked the doors down by striking at the latches with their sabres. They ran into the main, yellow, room and looked around.  
"Nevin!" cried Silvia. "Where are you?!" They looked around and Jac stared down the large, round tubes near the throne.  
"Hey!" he shouted. "I can hear somebody down there!" Instead of using the ladder he just jumped down and opened the door.  
"Oh!" said C-3GA excited. "Are you here to save me?" Dale-Mree jumped down as well and said, "Where's Nevin?"  
"Uh, I'm not sure, Master Dale-Mree. I think I heard something about some Torture Chambers though."  
"Alright," Dale-Mree said. "I'll take C-3GA back to the ship. You two find some way of getting to the Torture Chambers."  
"Sure," they both said and then climbed back up the ladder.  
  
The beast had managed to jump up and squeeze itself into the tube as well, so now it was following Nevin fast. There were several times when it almost grabbed hold of his feet, but he had, so far, been lucky enough not to get hurt, although his bones still hurt from when he had been thrown against the wall. He could see a light at the end of the tunnel and if he just moved a little faster he might have been able to escape from the beast. He pulled himself up with his arms, while he listened to the screeches of evil beast below him. He went up and up and up and up, until he finally pulled himself up into a large room full of nasty torture devices. He quickly looked about and saw the large figure of Jumbilba the Kindrel as he laughed and laughed at Nevin's weak attempt to escape. But just as he was going to say something two long beams of blue light came out of his stomach. He dropped to the ground and revealed the faces of Silvia and Jac.  
"Silvia! Jac!" Nevin said surprised. "What are you doing here?"  
"No time to talk, Nev," answered Jac. "We've gotta get out of this stupid place. C'mon!" But just as the three of them began to run in the direction of an exit 'the beast' blocked their path.  
"It's immune to our lightsabres," said Nevin quickly. "Run!"   
They all scattered in different directions, but Silvia opened the window leading onto the rooftop of the Palace.   
"Nice one, Silvia!" Nevin said. "C'mon, run!" The beast kept jumping at them and at one point it almost managed to bite Jac's head off. They climbed out of the window and came out on top of the large, flat rooftop of the main section of the building and the beast managed to follow them. Despite the fact that it was immune to lightsabres they still held theirs up anyway as they ran away from it.  
"What are we gonna do?" asked Jac. "Let it eat us?"  
"No way!" shouted a voice from behind them. "Not if I can help it!" It was Dale-Mree with C-3GA sitting next to him in the cockpit of the Blue Talon. "C'mon! Get on!" They climbed inside the ship and it flew away, leaving the beast staring at them in anger on top of Jumbilba's Palace.  
  
Chapter 11 - Key to the Sith  
  
After arriving back at Voreer the four Jedi sat with the Royal Associates of Ennelle at the royal dinner table to discuss matters while eating. The table was massive and was made from beautiful, clear crystal.   
"So," said Queen Drinia as she took a sip from her glass of wine, "now that our four Jedi heroes have returned we can discuss matters about how we are going to stop the Sith."  
"We really should find out where their main base is," suggested Admiral Turnridge, a muscular, low-voiced man with a moustache. "My army would be able to invade their base very easily, your Majesty."  
"I don't think it would be that easy, Admiral," said Silvia. "There are billions of Sith Lords, so they've either made loads of different bases spread around the Galaxy, or they've just got one gigantic one."  
"Well I've been in the Star Fortress," said Nevin as he nodded his head. "That's a base, but I doubt it's big enough for billions of people to live in. Maybe millions, but not billions."  
"My guess is that they have several bases," said Dale-Mree after taking a bite of lettuce. "The Star Fortress, which is what they use to travel from one part of the Galaxy to the other, would be one. Another might be their old Palace, wherever that is, although they might have destroyed it."  
"Wasn't their old Palace on Gruesk?" asked Silvia. "We didn't see it, but that was the planet on which they were hiding all these years."   
"Maybe," answered Dale-Mree. "But I doubt they use it anymore."  
"What about Coruscant?" asked Nevin. "After they took over the Republic they might have decided to use the Drieros Building."  
"The Drieros Building is too small," answered Dale-Mree. "But you could be right in saying that they live on Coruscant."  
"But isn't Coruscant a bit obvious?" asked Senator Nodd, a medium-built, middle-aged man with long, white robes. "We can easily find them there."  
"Well they have nothing to be afraid of," answered Dale-Mree. "They don't need to hide anymore; they rule the Galaxy."  
"Yeah, I think they're on Coruscant," said Silvia.  
"Maybe they're on a planet that you wouldn't expect," suggested Nevin. "You know. A place like Endor or Bespin. Places that are famous, but aren't exactly important."  
"Hmm," answered Dale-Mree as he rubbed his chin. "I don't know. Well it's getting late; I'm going to bed. Goodnight."  
"See ya in the morning, Dale-Mree," said both Nevin and Jac.  
"I'm going to bed too," said Silvia. "All the stuff that's happened today has made me tired. Goodnight."  
  
Within half an hour everyone had left the table, except for Nevin and Jac, who had almost dozed off in their seats. Nevin looked at Jac and tried to figure out if he was still awake or not as his head rested on the table.  
"Jac?" he whispered quietly. "Jac, are you awake?" Jac lifted his head up and rubbed his eyes. "Oh, sorry. Did I wake you?"  
"Nah," Jac answered, still rubbing his eyes. "I was just thinking about Darth Dredian. I can't think of one reason why I was stupid enough to actually take orders from him. One day I will destroy him. One day."  
"Tell me, Jac. Is it true that he killed my parents?"  
Jac looked as his feet.  
".I, err, well I heard somewhere that the Karr couple were to destroy the Sith forever, banishing them to the core of Korriban and bringing peace to the Galaxy, so Darth F'ror sent out a thousand Sith to seek and kill this couple. But the two Jedi were both extremely high in the Force and they fought off every single one of those Sith.except one: the Sith Apprentice, Darth Dredian, a young man of about thirty years old, who brutally slaughtered the Karr couple. That all happened about three years ago and since then Dredian had become the most powerful being in the Galaxy."  
"So it's true then? He certainly killed my parents."  
"As far as I know, yes. But then I was told that three other beings who could have been capable in completing the Karr couple's task were alive, somewhere in the Galaxy."  
"Three? Three people?"  
"Yes, and I suspect you are one of those three, Nev."  
"But what about the other two? Who are they?"  
"I'm quite sure it would be the other two children of your parents. Have you got two siblings?"  
"No. Just one, but he died. He may have been strong in the Force too, but he was never actually trained as a Jedi."  
"And you have no other brothers or sisters?"  
"No. Should I have? Is it only possible that the third person would be my other brother or sister?"  
"I don't know, Nev. I might have been told wrong. Perhaps there aren't three, or perhaps the third person doesn't necessarily have to be a relation of yours. Whatever it is I don't think you should really be worrying about it."  
"No, you're wrong. I've had that said to me so many times now and I am going to worry about it. I want to speak to my brother again. He spoke to me just before I first met you and I must speak to him again."  
"You do what you want, Nev. I'm not gonna get it the way of anything, so go ahead and do what you think is right. In the meantime, I'm going to bed.... Goodnight."  
"See ya in the morning, Jac."  
  
The Sith Tower was complete. Dredian entered a door leading to the top floor using a ramp coming down from his personal spacecraft, the Red Slash and looked at his new throne room with a big, evil grin on his face.  
"Perfect," he said to Darth Lare, who had walked in with him. "Absolutely perfect."  
"The rest of the building has been inspected, my lord," said Lare with a nasty look in his eyes. "Everything should be to your satisfaction."  
"Excellent," said Darth Dredian as he ran his fingers through his long, black hair. "Now there is only one thing left, Darth Lare: The Chosen Jedi. Two of the three people capable of defeating the Sith are already dead and there is only one left. His name is Nevin Karr and I would like you to search for him.and then kill him. After that has been done there should be nothing stopping us. The Sith will reign the Galaxy forever and everything will be evil, just as I like it."  
"Yes, my lord. I shall slaughter him in the worst way I can think of and I will not fail you."  
"Good. Then go, dark Sith and do it quickly."  
"Yes, my lord." The tall character walked out of the throne room in a bouncy walk and set out on his journey to find Nevin Karr.  
  
Back at Voreer there were still many discussions about the destruction of the Sith Dominion. They had to find out where the Sith were based and then they could form an army to go there and take over the main palace or building.   
"I still sense it's on Coruscant," said Silvia as she crossed her arms. "It's the hub of the Galaxy. Where else would they be based?"  
"Yeah, I agree," said Nevin. "But we can't be too sure. We need someone to find out where they are while the rest of us make a plan to invade the home of Darth Dredian." Queen Drinia looked at the rest of her associates and nodded.   
"He is right," she said while she stood on a platform above everyone else. "We need a volunteer, or perhaps many volunteers to go and find out where the Sith are based."  
"Your majesty," said Jac as he stood up on a large rock. "The Sith are all lords with spirits connected to the Dark Side of Korriban, a planet in the Outer Rim Territories where they originated. I used to be a Sith and I might be able to pass myself off as one now and contact the dead Lords of the Sith. It's risky, but I could do it."  
"I'm not quite sure I understand," Queen Drinia said confused. "Do you mean that if you're a Sith you could just go to this planet and contact some spirits that will tell you whatever you want?"  
"Well, kind of," answered Jac. "Don't worry, your majesty. If you'd like I shall leave right away and you can just work on a plan."  
"Okay, sir Jac," Queen Drinia answered. "I will provide you with a ship and you can go to Korriban. I thank you for you bravery and commitment to our people."  
"Thank you, your majesty," replied Jac as he began to walk away. "I will do my best."  
"May be the Force be with you," Dale-Mree said. "Good luck."  
"Yes," Queen Drinia said. "Well enough of this Jedi business. Now we must make a plan to overthrow the Sith and restore freedom to the Galaxy once again."  
"And how do we do that?" Nevin asked.  
"I have no idea."  
  
It didn't take long for Jac to reach the dark, desert/canyon world of Korriban. The creepy sky had dark clouds scattered all over the horizon, which didn't make the planet a very welcoming place. He landed in the Valley of the Dark Lords, a canyon with hundreds of statues and buildings dedicated to some of the most wisest and best Sith Masters ever to live in the Galaxy. With almost complete silence, apart from the echoing of the wind, it was very spooky to walk down the narrow trench with the eyes of statues staring at him. He walked at a steady pace though and tried to ignore anything but the fact that he was here to reach the Dark Lord Mausoleum, the tombs at the end of the valley where Sith Lord's souls were kept. But as he went further and further along it became more and more creepy and soon he began to hear faint, evil whispers coming from the statues.   
After he had walked almost a mile through the canyon he wondered if he should have parked the ship he had came in closer to the Mausoleum, as he did not only hear things, but he saw things. For brief moments he thought he saw black blurs zooming from one side of the canyon to the other and at the same time he felt a cold feeling run down his body as if there was a strange amount of the Force nearby. He especially could not ignore what was going on when he heard the high-pitched screech of some sort of creature hiding behind the statues. He activated his lightsabre and looked around. Everything was silent for a moment, but then suddenly a black, dog-like beast with four curly spikes protruding from its head jumped out.  
"Whoa!" Jac said before he stood in defence. The evil creature had a strange medallion around its neck and hundreds of teeth, each one sharper than a throwing knife. It looked almost as scary as the beast at Jumbilba's Palace with its red eyes staring straight at Jac.  
"What is your purpose here?" it said in a high, echoed voice. Jac was startled at the fact that this creature could actually talk. He had heard of the beasts that guarded the Mausoleum, but he had no idea they were intelligent.  
"Who are you?" he asked. "Are you a.Tuk'ata?"  
"I asked you a question, human!"  
"Uh, I am a Sith Lord and I wish to speak to the Dark Spirits."  
"Which dark spirits?"  
"Uh, Freedon Nadd? Anakin Skywalker?"  
"Anakin Skywalker doesn't exist!"  
"Uh, yeah, of course he doesn't. I knew that. Hey wait a minute, yes he does! Or at least he did exist. He should be here, right?"  
"Anakin Skywalker turned to the Light Side just before he died! All Sith Lords should know that!"  
"Well I'm young. I still have much to learn, which is one of the reasons why I am here."  
". I will let you past, but you will meet many other Tuk'atas like myself, and they will not. But if you really are a Sith then they should be no problem for you to kill. Neither should the ambulatory skeletons, who will arise from the earth after hearing just a speck of rain hit the ground."  
"Uh, yeah. Whatever. See ya." He walked past the Tuk'ata without looking back and went further down the canyon. The beast ran back into the darkness with a hissing laugh as though it had played some sort of prank on him. He kept his lightsabre ready for any jumpy attacks and stayed alert at all times. The canyon was getting darker and darker and about a quarter of a mile away he could see the Mausoleum, a dark, pyramid-shaped temple with an invisible glow of the Force coming from it. If Jac were to run he might be able to make it there fairly quickly, but as the Tuk'ata had said, he would probably be grabbed and killed by some other guardians of the building. The word, 'probably' changed to 'definitely,' after he saw two more Tuk'atas running towards him. "Uh, hi there, guys. I'm a Sith Lord and I'm here to-" He decided not to finish his sentence when he realised that the Tuk'atas weren't taking any notice of him.   
"How dare you enter the realm of the Dark Side!" one of them shouted as it got closer. Jac held his lightsabre up and swiped at one of them. He missed. The other one leaped at him, so he tried to slice its head clean off, but again he didn't succeed. These monsters were too fast and as he tried to fight them off he noticed three more running towards him in the background.   
"Right," he thought, "How the hell am I gonna get out of this one?" One of the Tuk'atas swiped at him with its arm and he managed to sever it without being harmed himself. It let out a screech of pain and then carried on fighting with its partner. The other three were getting closer and closer and Jac desperately needed to kill these two before he had a chance of beating them. The one with no arm was full of anger as it tried harder than ever to kill Jac. Too hard, in fact. As it was about to rip his leg right off he managed to stab it in the back and watch it fall to the ground, dead. The other three had arrived and he was now fighting four Tuk'atas at once, not an easy task at all. Two of them ran around the side of him and tried to attack from the back, so he now had to keep turning around quickly to fight off one set of beasts and then immediately turn around again to prevent the others from getting to him. He was sweating with waterfalls going down his forehead and a few cuts and slices where the beasts had managed to take a good swipe at him. He was getting tired and he knew that he'd have to do something quick, otherwise the monsters would easily destroy him. He held his lightsabre out in front of him and spun around in a three hundred and sixty degree turn to make the Tuk'atas jump back to give him more room. He then used the Force and done a back flip over the beasts behind him and as soon as he landed he struck them both down giving them no time to even turn around. The other two looked at each other and then ran towards him with foam coming from their mouths. He kicked one in the face while he quickly stabbed the other one in its side and then sliced the other one's head off to kill it. The one that he had stabbed was still alive and fighting with anger and aggression reaching the limit. It lunged forward at his leg and sunk its teeth in before he struck it down with his sabre. The Tuk'ata were dead and his leg was especially injured after the last strike, but he carried on, limping as he walked towards the big, black Mausoleum.  
He soon made it to the large, open entrance that lead inside the creepy, misty Mausoleum. He walked inside and looked around. He was in a large, grey room built with large, stone bricks that were covered in cobwebs and dead plants and fungus. There were large coffins spread around the place and three other passages leading to who-knows-where. He decided to go down the middle one, presuming it would lead him to the main section of the building, but he was blocked by a skeleton that suddenly shot out of the ground. It held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other and had an evil look on its face/skull. Jac struck it down immediately.  
"Well that was hard," he chuckled sarcastically. "I don't suppose there's any kittens guarding this place as well, are there?"   
But although one skeleton was easy it didn't mean that hundreds would be. Jac looked around as a whole army of the creatures rise from the sand behind him. He knew he couldn't beat them, so he was about to run through the passage, but there were hundreds of them there as well. "Oh, great."   
They began to walk slowly towards him with their backs bent and their swords held in front of them. He turned around and looked down the passage. There were only about thirty of them down there, so he might be able to fight them off and make a run for it. He ran down the passage and swiped his lightsabre around, knocking down loads of skeletons as he went. He dodged their slow sword-movement and got past them and ran further down the passage. They walked slowly after him with their evil looks still across their face/skull. He came to a spiral staircase going up for about twelve stories and began his long journey to the top of the Mausoleum. He could hear the sound of the skeletons following him up with their bones clattering on the steps.  
He made it to the top and closed the large wooden door behind him to prevent the skeletons from getting in and then looked around. He was at the top of the pyramid with large windows around the point and a strange four-sided throne in the shape of several Sith Lords. There were plaques at the bottom of each one and the part at the front was of a Sith Master named Exar Kun, so Jac knelt down in front of it and began to speak.  
"My lord," he said with his eyes closed as he reached out to the Force. "I am the Sith Master, Darth Trinnus and ask that you give me the location of Darth Dredian's new base."  
"A Sith Master you are not," echoed the low voice of the legendary Exar Kun. "I sense only minor skills in you."   
Well at least he hadn't noticed that Jac wasn't a Sith at all.  
"That is correct, my lord, but I desperately need to contact my fellow people."  
"And so you decide to lie to me?"  
"Yes, my lord, but as I said, I really am desperate. I am sorry for my mendacity though."  
"I forgive you. Now why is it that you are so eager to reach your desired location?"  
"Well I'm a Sith Lord and I did not rise on Gruesk like everyone else."  
"Where did you rise?"  
Jac paused as he thought for a while.  
".On Bortras, my lord."  
"Hmm, and you want to join the other Sith in ruling the Galaxy?"  
"Uh, yes, my lord."  
"So be it. The base is on Coruscant, not too far from the Imperial Palace. You will definitely notice it immediately."   
Jac threw a sigh of relief after he heard the word 'Coruscant.'  
"Thank you, my lord."  
"You are quite welcome, young apprentice. Now go."  
"Yes, my lord."   
He stood up and began to walk away in happiness. He was about to open the door when he suddenly heard the sound of the skeletons outside. "Uh oh." The massive door began to bash inwards and hundreds of sword blades began to strike through from the other side. Jac looked around for another way out, but there were only the windows. "Oh well," he said and ran towards one of them and jumped through, headfirst. He slid down the side of the pyramid and landed softly on the ground where he met five Tuk'atas standing in front of him.   
"Uh," he said, "I don't have time for you guys. Bye." He ran past them quickly and zoomed down the canyon back towards his ship, but they didn't follow him for the fact that he wasn't trying to go into the Mausoleum.   
He got back to the ship and jumped inside, before lifting off and shooting into space.  
  
He landed back on the mountain upon where Ennelle was built and ran inside, back to the Royal Table.   
"Jac!" Dale-Mree said surprised as he stood up. "You're back! Did you find the location of the Sith?"  
"Yes!" he answered excited. "It's on Coruscant, just by the Imperial Palace."  
"I told ya so," Silvia said, proud of herself.  
"Yeah, well don't get cocky," Jac said. "We've still got to find a way of invading the place."  
"Actually," Queen Drinia said as she stood up in her white robes, "Admiral Turnridge here has already made a plan of what we are to do. But it is getting late. I suggest we eat, sleep and then discuss what we are to do in the morning. Goodnight, everyone."   
She left the room, as did everyone else, including Nevin, Dale-Mree, Silvia and Jac. They all had a small snack and then went to bed early, as tomorrow would be a big day.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen," Admiral Turnridge said aloud in the missionary room. The four Jedi, the Royal Associates and the Voreer Army were all in the room listening to him, "Today we will attempt to invade the Sith Tower on Coruscant. Our spies have only just returned from their journey there and have confirmed that the building has its own shielding system that can block out absolutely anything, even people, so we have yet to work out how to firstly enter the building, but as far as we know, it shouldn't be too hard. Now, we will spread out around the building and when the time comes we will all enter one by one and try to spread ourselves all around the building in an attempt to confuse the billions of Sith that will be in there. They should surrender, eventually."  
"But how do you know they'll surrender?" Nevin asked. "The Sith are very strong and they will do everything in their power to keep the Galaxy in their hands."  
"He's right," Jac agreed as he nodded his head. "Dredian will never give up until he is dead."  
"Well we shall kill him then," Turnridge suggested. "It's that simple."  
"Ha," Jac said amused. "Believe me, that's not simple."  
"Admiral," Dale-Mree said, "I'm not sure you're plan has really been thought through enough. As you said, we don't even know how to get past the shield and the Sith will easily outnumber us."  
"Don't worry, Jedi," Turnridge said, "I know we haven't had time to think this out much, but once our army has spread out it will make it seem to the Sith that there are billions of us! Yes, the shield could be a problem, but it won't get in our way."  
"I think the Admiral is right," Queen Drinia said. "There may be many of them, but fear is their ally, am I right?"  
"That doesn't mean they are afraid, your majesty," Dale-Mree said. "That saying means that they strike fear into others and Darth Dredian will keep ordering them to attack us. Never will he even think about surrendering."  
"Nevertheless," Queen Drinia said, "It's worth a try. If it doesn't work then we can just retreat."  
"I agree with Dale-Mree," Nevin said. "I reckon we should think about it and make a more reliable plan, rather than just rushing into things."  
"I have already made an agreement," Queen Drinia said. "We will leave in six hours. You'd better ready your ships." She walked out of the massive room and the soldiers all looked at each other and whispered.  
"I have a bad feeling about this," Jac said. "There's no way we will destroy the Sith using such a feeble plan such as this."  
"I know," Nevin said. "But Queen Drinia thinks differently, so we'll just have to give it a shot."  
"What, when we already know it won't work?" Silvia said. "Dale-Mree, are you really going to go with them. You just said yourself that you think it's a bad idea."  
Dale-Mree scratched his beard.  
"I know," he answered, "but we don't have much of a choice."  
"Master," Nevin said, "do you think this is the moment that I become a Jedi Knight? Do you think I might end up battling Dredian?"  
"I don't know," Dale-Mree answered as he shook his head. "I just don't know."  
  
Later on, at the Sith Tower, Dredian looked outside at the massive skyscrapers of Coruscant, which had all been dwarfed by this particular building. He smiled as he remembered that the whole planet actually belonged to him and he smiled even more when he realised that the whole Galaxy belonged to him. There was a knock upon the door of his bedroom that annoyed and disturbed him greatly. He didn't want to let the person in, but it may have been important, so he pressed a small button on the windowsill and the door opened, revealing the tall Darth Lare.   
"Sorry, my lord," he said, "but I found some news that Nevin Karr was on Tatooine not that long ago and he left in the direction of the Unknown Regions, so he may have returned to Gruesk."  
"Really?" Dredian said as he stroked his chin. "Hmmm. Why would he return to Gruesk?"  
"That's what I though, my lord. But I may be wrong. Perhaps he has fled to another unknown planet."   
"Yes. Well I don't know that much of the other planets in the Unknown Regions, so I suggest you carry on with your search."  
"Yes, my lord."   
Lare left the room and Dredian turned round again to look through his windows, but he noticed something rather strange. Thousands of ships were heading towards the building and each looked very big. He held his multi-pin up to his mouth and said, "Guards, get a scan on those ships heading our way!"  
"Yes, my lord!" a voice came back through the gadget. ".They're Voreer Army Ships, my lord. I'll let the tower function officers know and tell them to put the shields up, shall I?"   
"Yes and let everyone else get ready for an attack."  
"Don't worry, my lord. They'll never get past the shield!"  
"I know, I know. Just get on with it!"  
"Yes, my lord."   
Dredian slipped the multi-pin back into his pocket and looked outside again. The ships were so close that they looked as though were going to smash straight into the building, but instead they began to lower down into the depths of the city. Suddenly a stream of light went past the windows that must have been the shield being switched on.   
"Great!" Dredian said. "At least they can't get in."   
  
Nevin, Dale-Mree, Silvia, Jac, C-3GA and R2-S2 all got out of the Blue Talon and looked at the surprisingly small entry doors.   
"They've got the shield up!" Admiral Turnridge shouted to the army while standing upon a large ramp. "But it doesn't matter at the moment! Just spread out around the building with your guns ready!"   
Nevin looked up at the building and stroked his stubble chin while he thought.   
".Admiral!" he shouted out loud to Turnridge. "I've got an idea!"  
"Go on," Turnridge said. "What is it?"  
"While you get the army ready I'll go to the polar caps at the top of the planet. The ice is where all the people on the planet get their water from, so if I blocked the right tube off it would stop water from getting into the building and sooner or later they'd have to shut the shield down and come out."  
The Admiral looked confused, but he nodded in an agreeable way.  
"Uh, I'm not sure what you mean," he said, "but give it a shot anyway. Good luck!"  
"Thanks, Admiral!"  
"I'll come too," Silvia said as she stepped in front of Nevin. "You know, just in case you get hurt or something."  
"Alright then, we'll go in the Blue Talon. C'mon!" They got into the ship and lifted off into the air, before zooming along in between the tall buildings.  
"Err," C-3GA said as he looked at the ship, "me and R2 will just stay here then."   
  
As soon as Nevin and Silvia reached the pipeline route they just followed it along to the top of the planet.   
"So," Silvia said while they waited to get to the top, "how long have you been a pilot?"  
"Not long. But ya gotta admit, I'm quite a good one ain't I?"  
Silvia raised her bottom lip.  
"Hmm, I suppose so. But you're not as good as my father was."  
Nevin looked at her.  
"Your father? Who was he?"  
"Keba Arala. He was one of the Rebels, but he died shortly after the Battle of Barkhesh."  
Nevin looked away again.  
"Oh, I'm sorry."  
"Don't be. I've spent most of my life without seeing him, so it didn't take me long to get over it."   
".Say, where are you actually from?"   
Silvia gave him a suspicious look.  
"Why?"  
"I just wanna know. I like to know what planets people are from."  
"Well I'm from Baroonda."  
Nevin looked up and squinted, trying to think if he had heard that name anywhere before.   
"Baroonda? Where's that?"  
"It's in the Mid Rim in the Kalarba System. You've never heard of it?"   
Nevin thought again.  
"Sorry, but no I haven't."  
"Well it's a beautiful world."  
"Well of course you're gonna say that. It's you're home-world."   
"No, it really is a nice planet. It's full of rainforests, mountains and lakes mainly."  
"You mean jungles, volcanoes and swamps mainly?"  
"No, I mean rainforests, mountains and lakes mainly."  
"Yeah, yeah."  
"Well wait until you go there someday. You'll see what I mean."  
Nevin sighed and laughed at the same time.  
"Don't worry, I was just joking."  
"I know."  
".So do you travel around much?"  
"Not really. I've spent a lot of my life on Yavin 4, but I have gone to a few other places."  
"Oh."   
They looked at each other in the eyes and smiled.   
"I, uh, we're nearly there now," Nevin said after he concentrated back on steering the ship. "Hold on."   
The Blue Talon began to slowly land on top of the massive pipe, half of which was sticking out of the ground horizontally. The two Jedi got out and looked about while shivering at the cold, icy air. The buildings of Coruscant looked like grass stems in the distance and the spaceships zooming about now looked like flying insects.  
"There's a control hut just over there," Nevin said as he pointed towards a large room attached to the side of the pipe. "Wait here while I go and try to find a way to shut down the water supply to the Sith Tower."   
Silvia did as he asked and he ran into the conveniently unlocked room. There were literally millions of small buttons with numbers on them that represented a certain building on the planet. All Nevin had to do was to find out which one was for the Sith Tower and he'd be able to turn the supply off easily. There was a computer at the other side of the room, so he tried to figure out how to use it by tapping at some of the keys. There were hundred of confusing figures, but he ignored them and tried to type in 'Sith Tower.' He pressed the 'enter' button and the machine began to make a humming sound as it searched for what he was looking for. A short number appeared: 472371.  
"Great!" Nevin said and he ran back to near the entrance where the first of the numbers would be. He looked down them for a number 472, but he then realised that they weren't in numerical order! "Oh," he said confused. "Well that's not good." He went back to the computer and tried to see if he could switch the supply off from there. He typed in various words and eventually came up with a screen that had all the numbers listed down, this time in numerical order. He highlighted 472 and pressed enter and the most relieving words came up on the screen: 'Sith Tower water supply switched off.'   
"Yes!" Nevin said and he ran back outside to the Blue Talon. "C'mon! I've done it. We've gotta get back."   
They got in and left the water pipes for good.  
  
Back at the Sith Tower not much had happened. The Voreer Army waited outside and sat there with their arms folded and their mouths yawning in boredom.   
"Admiral Turnridge," Queen Drinia said, "I think we should set up some sort of camp. It may take a while until the Sith finally come out."  
"You're right, your majesty," Turnridge agreed. "Men! We're setting up a camp! I want half of you awake throughout the night and the other half awake during the day, so that we have guards at all times!"  
"YES SIR!" said the voices of nearly the whole army and they soon went into the ships and began to bring out tents, food and drink.   
  
In the top of the building Darth Dredian finished in the toilets and twisted the cleaning taps. A small drop of water came out, but nothing else. A confused look came across Dredian's face and he turned on the other tap to see if that was working, but nothing came out of that either. He held his multi-pin up to his mouth.  
"Tower Control Officer One," he said calmly, "there appears to be a problem with the water."  
"Uh, yes my lord," the officer spoke back. "We'd noticed that too, as have many others in the building. We're trying to get to the root of the problem, my lord."  
"I hope it has nothing to do with that army down there." His tone now showed slight annoyance.  
"Uh, we're not sure, my lord."  
"Well you'd better be sure within ten minutes, officer, otherwise I shall be angrier than ever. Do you understand?"  
"Yes, my lord."  
"Good."   
He switched the multi-pin off and put it away once again, before looking outside his window at the sunset sky.  
  
The Blue Talon landed and Nevin and Silvia both got out and smiled at Admiral Turnridge.  
"Did you shut the water down?" he asked nervously.  
"Sure did," Silvia answered. "Won't be long before they decide to actually come out of this goddamn building." Everyone now had to wait until the shield was put down and then they could finally invade the tower.   
  
Two hours later, at the mid control sector of the Sith Tower, Darth Dredian walked in where his Sith control officers were trying to figure out what was the matter with the water.  
"Sergeant Vasaa," he said to the leading officer at the control. "I want the water back right away!"  
"But my lord," Vasaa protested scared, "we can't seem to find the cause for the blockage. We think that the army outside may have something to do with it, but-" Vasaa began to choke mid-sentence as Dredian crushed his windpipe using the Force. He gargled a couple of times before finally falling to the ground, dead.  
"Get someone to clear him up!" Darth Dredian ordered. "In the meantime, you, Admiral Tillaer are the control officer of this sector and I would like to have water back within five minutes, otherwise you will suffer the same fate as young Vasaa here."   
The tall creep walked out of the room and left poor Admiral Tillaer standing there not knowing what to do. He was about to order the others to begin a scan on the building to search for a cause, but Darth Dredian suddenly stepped back into the room again and said, "Actually, Admiral, delay my last order. Instead, I'd like you just to find out if the army has anything to do with it."  
"We're actually quite sure they are, my lord," Tillaer said with his hands shaking behind his back. "Sergeant Vasaa was too nervous to admit it, I think."  
"You're absolutely sure?"  
Tillaer shrugged his shoulders.  
"Well there's unlikely to be any other reason why our water supply should suddenly stop, my lord. This is a new building and someone must have switched it off. It could only be them, my lord."  
"You're right. It would be too much of a coincidence that the water supply would turn off at the exact time that they are there.   
"Well if it's a battle they want then a battle it will be. Order every Sith Warrior in the building to prepare for an invasion of the building. They will not win."  
"Are you sure, my lord? Their army looks very big and-"  
"Their army is nothing, at least compared to ours anyway. Put the shield down and get the drone guns ready for fire at the rendezvous."  
"Yes, my lord."  
  
The shield suddenly went down in a flash and Admiral Turnridge stood up quickly on his feet.  
"Men!" he shouted loudly. "Attack!" All the soldiers ran into the small entrance one by one with their guns ready to fire. Turnridge went in as well, as did Jac and Dale-Mree with their lightsabres activated.  
R2-S2 hooted nervously.  
"You're right, R2," C-3GA replied. "We'd better wait here and guard the ships or something.  
  
"I don't think this is gonna work," Nevin said as he ran through the corridors with Silvia. They had both split up from Dale-Mree and Jac. "I have a bad feeling about this."  
"Don't worry, Nev," Silvia said as she squeezed his hand reassuringly. "Sure, a few people will die, but we can defeat Dredian right here, right now."   
Nevin thought for a while and looked at the massive building.  
".You're right. Let's go and show him who's boss!" They both followed the army into the massive elevators with their lightsabres ready. The Army had been told to spread out, so they all had their own parts of the building to go to, except for the four Jedi.   
"Let's go to the top floor," Nevin said. "Dredian will be there. I'm sure of it."  
"Alright then," Silvia agreed. "We'll fight him together."  
"No. This is my destiny. He killed my parents and I must now kill him."  
"Nevin, you forget that a Jedi doesn't seek revenge. This is about you reaching your goal of becoming a Jedi Knight. I am a Padawan too, so this could be part of finishing my training as well."  
Nevin twisted his lip in slight annoyance at the fact that she was right.  
"Oh alright then. You come too."  
"Thanks, Nev." She smiled at him nicely as the lift went higher and higher.  
  
Dale-Mree had split up from Jac and he had made his way quickly up to the top floor, searching the quiet corridors for Dredian. He held his lightsabre up and kept his thoughts on defence. There was absolute silence on the whole section of the building and you couldn't even hear the sound of the battle downstairs.   
"You are unwise to come up here, old Jedi," said an evil voice and Darth Dredian jumped out with his red lightsabre activated. He struck it quickly at Dale-Mree a few times and was just about blocked by the Jedi's reactions. "Not bad. Not bad at all. But have you considered the fact that I might have just been playing when I did that? Believe me, I am a master and an old man like you will never beat me!" He waved his sabre even more and Dale-Mree struggled to stay alive. "Ha, ha, ha! Did you actually suspect that this small Voreer Army could actually destroy the Sith?"  
"No," Dale-Mree answered. "I suspect that Nevin Karr will kill you and become a great Jedi Knight and then a great Jedi Master."  
"Nevin Karr will be dead within hours. I sense his presence here and my men will easily destroy him."  
"You underestimate his powers."  
"And you underestimate my powers, old man!"   
Once again a small fight broke out as they clashed their lightsabres together.  
  
Meanwhile, Jac was fighting with the Voreer Army and things weren't looking too good. Many men began to fall and there seemed like an endless supply of the Sith Warriors. He had a hard job fighting some of them off and even he began to feel himself getting weak.  
"Men!" he shouted aloud. "We must retreat! We can't win! .There are too many!" But the Army kept on fighting and Admiral Turnridge had already died. Jac ran into an elevator and pressed the ground button. He waited patiently as it took him to the bottom floor again. He stepped out and saw hundreds of dead soldiers and absolutely no dead Sith Warriors. The whole invasion had been a waste of time and he ran outside into the open.  
  
Dale-Mree and Darth Dredian had been fighting for quite some time and the Jedi Master was seriously puffed out, whereas the Sith Lord was as relaxed as he usually was.   
"What's the matter, Jedi? Getting tired? Ha, ha, ha!"   
Suddenly the elevator doors opened up and Nevin and Silvia ran out with their lightsabres activated. Dale-Mree lost concentration on the fight as he turned round to look and Dredian suddenly stabbed him straight in the chest.  
"No!" Nevin screamed and he ran as fast as he could towards the evil Sith. Silvia ran and helped Dale-Mree while Nevin tried to kill Dredian as a battle broke out between the two of them, but Dredian was strong and he pushed him onto the floor strongly. Nevin looked by his side as Dale-Mree's body began to fade away, leaving only his Jedi robes behind.  
"You ugly, evil bastard!" Silvia shouted as tears came from her eyes. "You'll pay for this!"  
"Not until you two are dead as well!" he shouted and he was about to strike at them when suddenly the windows behind them smashed open and the Blue Talon floated there with the doors open. The faces of R2-S2, C-3GA and Jac were peering out.  
"Get in!" shouted Jac. "C'mon Nev, Silv!" Silvia jumped in, but Nevin didn't want to leave without completing his destiny. He and Dredian clashed their sabres together and looked each other in the eyes.   
"Nevin, there'll be other times!" Silvia shouted. "Get in!"  
Nevin soon decided that she was right and he jumped backwards into the ship before it zoomed off into space with Dredian staring at it annoyed.  
"I'll get you someday, Nevin Karr!" he shouted to the sky and walked slowly away.   
  
No-one spoke as they flew towards Voreer. The fact that they had lost the battle and also Dale-Mree had made each of them quiet and thoughtful. Jac just quietly concentrated while the hyperdrive got ready, but suddenly Nevin sensed something very strange in the Force and quickly said, "Don't go back to Voreer!" Jac and Silvia both gave him odd looks.  
"What?" Jac asked. "Voreer?"  
"Don't go back there. I can sense it's not safe, perhaps even fatal."  
Silvia closed her eyes and concentrated.  
".I sense it too," she agreed. "He's right, Jac. We can't go back.ever."   
"Listen," Jac said, "we're low on fuel and we can only rely on the hyperdrive to get us to Voreer, so we have no choice."  
"Well land on a nearby planet," Nevin suggested. "Just trust us, Jac. There's something not right and the Sith may have something to do with it."  
"Well don't you think it'd be wise if we warned the people of Voreer?" Jac asked. "Shouldn't we at least tell them that they're in danger?"  
"I know it seems cruel, but no," answered Nevin. "If you decide to go there then we're already dead."  
Jac frowned and then sighed.  
"Oh, alright then," he replied. "We'll land on the sandy place over there." He pointed to a small, beige planet with rivers and turned the ship to face it. "Here we go."   
  
Chapter 12 - Full Control   
  
The Star Fortress moved towards the blue/black planet of Voreer. Inside, Darth Dredian stepped into the Armoury Sector and looked outside at the planet with many officers sitting at computers controlling the massive ship.   
"Commanders," he said aloud, "The army that Nevin Karr was with at our battle on Coruscant was from this planet, Voreer. So it is likely that he is actually there as we speak. That is why we have come here today: to destroy Voreer and hopefully Nevin Karr as well. As soon as he is dead we will have no fears of being defeated.at all and it will become a tradition that a Sith rule the Galaxy... You may fire one of the super-lasers when ready."  
"Yes, my lord," said one of the officers as he switched some buttons on and off. "Standby for destruction of Voreer."   
After several minutes of charging up, the red laser at the front of the ship shot at the helpless planet of Voreer and blew it up into a trillion pieces. There were a few cheers from inside the Star Fortress and Dredian said, "Good. Now all we have to do is hope that young Nevin was actually on that planet."  
  
Meanwhile Nevin, Silvia, Jac, C-3GA and R2-S2 were approaching the planet that they had decided to land on. Their fuel was out and the Blue Talon just glided down onto the side of a beautiful, massive, sandy canyon with a river within it. The sun was extremely bright and hot.   
"This place is beautiful!" Silvia said as she clambered out of the ship and stood on the edge of a ledge in the canyon. "The whole planet is made up of rivers within canyons! And look, there're some waterfalls in the distance!"  
"Hey," Jac said, "I wouldn't get too excited. We're in the middle of nowhere with a ship with no fuel. We probably don't have much chance of surviving ya know."   
Nevin peered down at the river, hundreds of metres below them and looked at the ledge going along the canyon, which turned around in a corner, hiding what was further along it. R2-S2 bleeped once.  
"You're right," he agreed. "We'll just have to hope that we can find some friendly inhabitants that will help us."  
"Well let's go then," Silvia said in a hurry. "C'mon. We'll walk along this ledge and see if there's a way of getting out of the canyon."  
"But we'll just end up at the edge of another canyon," C-3GA said. "Besides, we don't know if this ledge is safe to walk along."  
"We don't have a choice," Nevin said. "Once we get up there we'll have an even better view and we might be able to see any cities or settlements. It may be dangerous, but if we stay here we'll die. C'mon."  
"Alright," Jac agreed, "but we don't wanna stray too far from the ship."  
"We won't. Now let's go."   
Nevin led the way along the ledge, with Silvia behind him, then C-3GA, then Jac and R2-S2 at the back.   
They walked for hours and hours along the long, long ledge and were fortunate enough not to bump into any dangerous beasts or obstacles. The ledge was very slowly curving to the right, as though it were going around the edge of a circular wall of some sort and Nevin was getting worried that they wouldn't end up getting off the hot, quiet planet. His hopes lowered even further when they came to a halt in front of a waterfall blocking their way. It fell from the top of the canyon/wall and if they were to try and walk through it they would surely be dragged away and fall down into the river below them.  
"What do we do now?" C-3GA asked as he looked at the others. "We can't exactly walk through it can we?"   
Jac stepped closer towards it and put his hand under the water.  
"I dunno," he said wondering. "It doesn't seem that strong."  
"Nevertheless," Nevin replied, "I don't think you should-" Jac had already stepped underneath the water and was dragged down into the canyon as he screamed loudly. "-go through."  
"Oh no!" Silvia cried. "Is he dead?"  
"I hope not," Nevin answered as he looked down. "If the river down there is deep then he'll landed softly and swim to shore."  
"Should we jump in after him?" she asked, still looking into the canyon.  
"No, it's too dangerous," Nevin replied. "If he has survived then we'll reunite with him later. In the meantime I think we should just find a way of getting up. There're a few cracks in the wall here, so if we're careful we might be able to climb up. It could be pretty hard work though," Nevin said as he stuck his foot into a small hole in the side of the wall and grabbed onto a pointed lump of rock. He began his ascent, while Silvia nervously looked up at him.  
"Are you sure there's no other way?" she asked. Nevin turned his head around while he hung on the wall.  
"No other way of what?" he asked. "Getting off the planet?"  
"We're not leaving without Jac."  
"I know. I never said we were. What are you trying to ask me?"   
Silvia lowered her eyebrows and shrugged.  
"I sense something very big near the top," she said.  
"I know, it's probably a city. Just follow me up. We'll ask the natives to lend us some tools to fix the ship, we'll go down into the canyon and get Jac and then we'll finally leave the planet."  
"Then where will we go?"  
"I don't know. We can't go back to Voreer though."  
"Yeah." Silvia looked at the ground and thought for a while. ".Actually, why not? I can't sense any danger there anymore. As a matter of fact, I can't sense anything there."  
"Neither can I, but I'm still not sure we should go there. My thoughts told me that we would never return there in the future. Now, follow me or we'll be here forever."   
Silvia sighed and began to climb the sandy wall.  
"Me and R2 will just stay on our own again," C-3GA said.   
  
Meanwhile, Darth Dredian arrived at the Hoth System in the Star Fortress. The ship's engines began to rest and it stayed in the same space while the leading commanders waited for Dredian to give another order.  
"Good," he said to Darth Lane, who stood beside him with his hands behind his back. "I trust this is the place."  
"Excuse me for asking, my lord," said Lane, "but why in the Galaxy do you want to land on Hoth? It has no use whatsoever to us. It's just a frozen, deadly, remote-"  
"Actually, Darth Lane," Dredian interrupted, "It is not Hoth that I wish to land on. I wish to land on Lersanoi."  
"Lersanoi?" Lane repeated with a surprised look on his face. "You want to speak with the Galaxy Assurance Assembly?"  
"Yes.and I wish to take over the Assembly as well."  
"Take over? But, my lord, that is illegal. You may be in charge of the Galaxy, but they make sure nothing too rash happens. They are honest, helpful people."  
"And you think that I'm not?"  
"No, my lord, it's just that they will never give up their job to a Sith."  
"There are only twenty of them, Darth Lane. I'll have a short word with them and if they refuse then I will just kill them."  
"You might as well kill them. They'll never give you the Assurance Control."  
"We shall see what happens. Commander Rikhter, I'd like my royal transport ship, the Red Slash ready for a departure to the Lersanoi Tower, right away."  
"Yes, my lord," said Rikhter, a Sith Commander in charge of the Star Fortress's docking and departure.  
  
Nevin and Silvia struggled to climb the last section of the wall. They both grabbed onto the edge of the top and pulled themselves up before seeing on the other side a massive crater in the ground. And in the crater was the biggest animal either of them had ever seen. It was a gigantic, black, dragon-like reptile with large wings and evil, red eyes.  
"What the-" Nevin said as he stared in amazement at the massive creature.  
"I told you there was something dangerous on the other side!" Silvia whispered to Nevin.   
"No you didn't. You said there was something big on the other side. I just presumed it was a city."  
"Well shouldn't we climb back down now?"  
"Are you kidding? Pulling yourself up is one thing, but trying to get back down is going way too far."  
"Let's just jump back as hard as we can and we'll fall down into the canyon and into the river. At least we'll survive."  
Nevin shook his head.  
"No, Silvia. We've climbed all the way up. Let's just watch the reptile for a little while."   
Silvia sighed and looked behind. The reptile began to drink from the river that was running through the crater (the one that the waterfall had flown from) and sipped for about a minute.   
"Nevin," Silvia said bored, "what the hell are we waiting for? It's just a massive reptile that'll probably eat us if we stay here." She looked behind her again and suddenly noticed smoke coming from inside one of the canyons. "Look, Nevin! Smoke! It might be Jac, or perhaps it's civilisation!"   
Nevin looked at the smoke and grinned.   
"Good," he said, "but first we've gotta find a way of getting there. We could jump into the canyon below us and follow it through the other canyon, but that could take time, so instead we should get a-"   
Suddenly Silvia deliberately leaped off of the edge and fell deep into the canyon screaming as she did. The reptile had heard her scream and it rushed towards the edge of the crater and looked down with it's head tilted. It then turned and looked at Nevin with a confused look on its face.  
"ICHI WALAA O POOT WASAF!" it said with its rumbling voice. Nevin was about to jump down with Silvia, but it grabbed hold of him with its long, spindly hands. It studied him carefully with a slight smile on its face, as though it was happy to find a small animal like this.  
"Err," Nevin said with his eyes closed, "are you gonna eat me or what?"  
"HOOOMON!"  
"What?"  
"HOOOMON I WOT YOOO AH!" The language that the reptile used sounded like broken Basic, but Nevin wasn't too sure. "WOT YOOO DONG IN A PLASS LAK THIS?"  
"Wait a sec," Nevin said with a surprised look, "can you speak Basic?"  
"A CORSS A CAAN."  
"Can you fly?"  
The reptile looked at him confused.  
"YA. WHY? WOT YOOO DONG IN A PLASS LAK THIS?"  
"I landed here with my friends, but my ship is broken. Do you think you might be able to help me find them? They're both somewhere in the canyon down there."  
"A CORSS A CAAN! I FLA DAN THER WIV YOOO ON MA BAK!"  
"Yeah, that would be good. Thanks."   
"MA NAM IS ROTO THA HERVA DRAGON!"  
"You're a Herva Dragon called Roto, did you say?"  
"YA."  
"What planet am I on?"  
"UH, YENTOOINE."  
".Oh, well my name's Nevin and if ya don't mind could I get on your back now?"  
"SHOOR, NEVIN!"   
Roto, who was still holding Nevin, put him on his back and waved his wings, ready for take off. "HOLD ON TYGHT!" The Dragon jumped up and then suddenly pointed himself nose down and zoomed into the canyon. Nevin held tightly onto a couple of Roto's scales while his hair blew back from the wind and hoped he wouldn't fall off.  
"Oh dear!" C-3GA said as he looked down at the massive beast. R2-S2 bleeped and hooted a few times. "What will we do now?"  
  
Roto soon slowed down and landed on the riverbank inside the canyon. Nevin climbed down the side of his massive belly and landed on the soft, pebble ground. The air was misty and humid and it was hard to see any further than ten metres in front of him.  
"Silvia!" he shouted as he looked at the wide river to the left of him. "Jac! Hello?" Roto followed him as he ran along the bank and waved his head from side to side while he scanned the area with his big red eyes.  
"UH OH," his voice echoed through the canyon. "A SMEL SOMFIN BAD."  
"What is it?" Nevin asked. Roto lifted his head and sniffed the fog.   
"A SMEL A HERAWING."  
"A herawing? What's that?" Suddenly a scream came from inside the mist in front of them. There was a fast pounding as well that sounded like the footsteps of some sort of massive beast. "Put me back on," Nevin said and Roto picked him up before placing him on his back, just as the human had told him to.   
"YUP, A FINK WEED BETTA GET OUTTO HERE," Roto said as he flapped his wings beginning to take off. "THOS HERAWINGS CAN BI DENGERAS."  
"Don't go too high," Nevin said as he held on tight. "I think that scream may have belonged to my friend, Silvia." Roto flew along slowly through the canyon, until Nevin signalled for him to stop. "There! Go down! It's Silvia!" As Roto lowered down, Nevin climbed down his shoulders and hanged off of his foot ready to grab hold of Silvia. She looked up at them and reached her arms up, before he managed to pull her up onto Roto's foot. Suddenly, as Roto flew higher up, the massive herawing, a purple, sharp-toothed, evil-eyed, flying beast swooped up and tried to take a massive bite from his neck. Luckily he managed to turn around quickly and go the other way. The herawing chased him through the canyon and suddenly managed to take a chunk out of the end of his tail. He gave out a loud cry of pain, but still tried to fly along as fast as he could.   
Nevin and Silvia climbed up his leg and onto his back.  
"Activate your sabre!" Nevin cried as he pressed the small, red button on the small, metal rod. Silvia activated her own lightsabre as well and they ran along Roto's narrow, scaly back. They got to the end of his tail and looked into the herawing's eyes. As it tried to take any more bites at Roto they struck it with their sabres and after a few minutes of flying it stopped and disappeared into the fog.   
  
Darth Dredian's small, red, personal transport ship zoomed over the dark, junk-lands of Lersanoi and docked on top of the tall, thin tower. Dredian stepped outside and sniffed the polluted air. The planet used to be the equivalent of Coruscant, the main planet in which all decisions and laws were settled, but its cities were destroyed over a millennium ago, leaving only the tower behind, a place where safety was considered before the Galaxy leaders were allowed to take a particular action. Dredian planned to destroy this 'stupid' method, so that he could do absolutely anything he wanted to do. He had already destroyed a planet and he would be found out about that, but as soon as the Assurance Assembly was disabled it wouldn't matter. He would have the power to kill whoever he wanted and to destroy whatever he liked, just as Emperor Palpatine had during the Galactic Civil War.  
A Droid took him to a dark room with a round table in the middle that had twenty old men and woman sitting at it. They looked at him with their wise, old eyes and the one at the top of the table, who was no doubt the leader, stood up.   
"I am Chancellor Bagda Pelafa," he said in a slow voice. "Darth Dredian, it is a pleasure to have you here at Lersanoi. I have heard of your victory at the invasion on Coruscant and we are all-"  
"Cut the yap," Dredian said as he walked closer towards the table. "I'm only here to discuss matters about my free will of the Galaxy. I want you to leave this planet and forget about this utterly absurd assembly and let me make the decisions. I am the leader after all."  
"The Assurance Assembly has been used for years and it has been put to great use. You cannot shut us down now." Dredian activated his lightsabre and held it ready.  
"You will leave everything to me," he said, "or you will die."  
"You do know that there are drone guns all around the building," another one of the assembly said. "If you so much as run with that weapon in your hands then they will blow you to pieces. Now I suggest you put it away before someone gets hurt."  
"Your feeble drones will not be fast enough to kill me," Dredian said with his eyebrows lowered. "Now, I am a very impatient man and if you do not disable the assembly I will strike you down."  
"Sorry, Darth Dredian," Chancellor Pelafa said, "but we refuse to do such a stupid thing. We know what you Sith Lords are like. You'll kill millions of people if you get your own way."  
"I already have killed millions of people and seeing as you deny my order I will kill you too."   
He struck at Pelafa with his sabre and jumped out of the way of a bullet from one of the drone guns. The assembly stood up and began to run away, but Dredian immediately ran up to each of them and struck them down, dodging bullets on the way. He blocked some of them with his sabre and got a round, metal sphere from inside his cloak. He pressed a button on it, threw it down the corridor in front of him and ran back up the staircase that led to the roof. He got into his ship and in a matter of seconds it had taken off and was zooming away from the exploding tower.   
  
Roto eventually flew out of the canyon, zoomed over the desert trenches and took the two Jedi to his city, Jeehidabee. It was a massive, beautiful, marble plate supported by pillars in a gigantic crater, even bigger than the one that Nevin and Silvia had first met Roto in. He landed by a dragon-made lake and had his tail treated while Nevin and Silvia were taken to meet the leader of the people, Lord Cobbi in a massive, church-like room with hundreds of senators and governors standing in rows.  
"TIS A PLESYA TA SEEE SUTCH A DIFRANT SPEESHEES SUTCH AS YASELVES," he said with his blue hands holding onto a staff. He was wearing a long, red cloak that covered his wings. "TEL MEEE, WOT SPEESHEES AR YA?"  
"We're Humans," Nevin answered as he stood with Silvia on the flat hand of one of the giant dragons standing in front of Lord Cobbi. "My name is Nevin Karr and this is my friend, Silvia Arala. We crash-landed here with another one of our kind, but he fell into one of the canyons near our craft."  
"AH, YESS," Lord Cobbi said, his voice rumbling loudly. "SENATOR ROTO TOLD USS OV THAT."  
"Roto is a senator?" Silvia asked.  
"YESS AND HEE IZ WUN OV AR BEST DELIGATES.ANYWAY, AS A WOZ SAYIN, YOR FREND SHAL BE FOUND. WEE HAV SUM OV THEE BEZT SCOUT SERCHARS IN THEE GALAXY."  
"Thanks," Nevin said. "We don't mean to be taking liberties or anything, but would it be okay if you could help us fix our ship as well? I should be able to remember the location of it. And there's also two Droids that came with us that need to be saved."  
"WHY YESS, OV CORSS. DON'T YA WORRI ABOUT A FING, NEVIN AND SILVIA. EVEREEFING WILL BEE SORTID, SO YOO TWO CAN JUST REELAX IN AR CITY HOTEL'S FERST-CLASS ROOMS."  
"Oh, don't worry," Silvia said, "we don't need to be treated that greatly. We don't want to seem a problem."  
"NOO, I INSIST. YOO AR VERRY WELCUM TO BE TREETED IN THE BEST WAY POSSSIBEL."  
"Thanks," Nevin said. "You are very kind."  
"WELLL, I'M SYUR YOU'D LIKE TA SEEE YUUR ROOMS NOW. CHANCELLOR GREGAD, TAKE THEM TO THEE HOTEL."  
"YESS, MY LORD," said the dragon that was holding the two Jedi and he left the massive room.   
They were each put into their own room (rooms that were matched for their size) that had a bed, a radio device, a shelf, a wardrobe and various other appliances. Both rooms were next to each other and the hotel was near the edge of the city, so they had a fantastic view of the canyons and craters scattered throughout the beautiful planet. The hotel was absolutely massive, considering the fact that it was built for the immense size of the Herva Dragons and the two Jedi had to ask for someone to come and take them out of their small rooms, as it was hard work climbing the staircases or reaching the buttons on the elevators.  
Days passed. The Blue Talon was recovered and Nevin had fixed it with some help from the Dragons and C-3GA and R2-S2 had also been rescued, but there had been no sign of Jac. There were expectations that he had been swallowed up by one of the herawings lurking in the canyons, but Nevin didn't want to leave the planet without knowing for certain.  
And so it was decided that Silvia would stay on Yentooine while he leave and search for a new organisation to join; one that would give hope in defeating the Sith Dominion. They would have to be a big organisation though, so that they could easily raise a massive army of billions people. How easy it would be to find a federation with that much power was unknown to Nevin, but he decided to leave right away, so that he could get a head start on his journey.  
He made some final adjustments to the Talon's core engine, made sure all was safe and then lifted into the air, watching the tremendous Dragons waving at him and Silvia blowing him some sort of 'good luck' kiss.   
  
Chapter 13 - A Large Organisation   
  
Nevin had soon made it out of the atmosphere of Yentooine and he made a careful scan of the area surrounding him. R2-S2 bleeped from behind him as a list of objects came up on the Talon's monitor screen. A lot of the items were just space junk, but some were ships and space stations.  
"What do you think, R2?" Nevin asked as he looked behind his seat. "Should we chance going to one of the stations and risk the fact that it might belong to the Sith?"  
R2 replied with some whoops and wails that meant he wasn't sure.  
"Ah, what the hell," Nevin said. "Let's head for this one." He pointed to the icon of a space station that was about half the size of the Deathstar. "It's pretty big, and we're supposed to be looking for a big organisation."  
R2 bleeped again.  
"Yes, I know the Sith Dominion is a big organisation, but as I said before, we need to take a chance and risk it. Now let's set a course for grid-reference Core - 568759354178, 091234651540. Wait a sec. Let me just double-check that." He ran his finger across the number next to the location. "Core 568759354178, 091234651540, okay? Right. Let's go."  
He pressed a large, square, green button on the monitor and they suddenly went zooming through space at incredible speed. They passed large comets and wavy clouds of gas on the way and then suddenly stopped about a kilometre away from a gigantic, oval, cream space station with the words, 'THE GRAND STAR ARCHER' written across the side of it in blue.  
"Whoa, you came in a little fast there, pilot," said a friendly female voice speaking over the Talon's comlink. "How may I help you?"  
"I'm pilot, Nevin Karr of Tatooine. I've just came from Yentooine near Coruscant. I'm looking for a large organisation to join in my goal to stop the Sith Dominion."  
"Wait a sec," said the voice, "I just need to take a scan. Alright, Mr. Karr, you've come to the right place. This is The Grand Star Archer, the main space station of the New Republic."  
"This is the New Republic?" Nevin asked amazed. "That's fantastic! You're just the right guys to help defeat the Sith!"  
"That's right, sir. The Presidents have been notified of your arrival and would like to speak to you, so just wait a second and we'll pull you in."  
Nevin and R2-S2 waited as a tractor beam pulled the Blue Talon into a small slot in the station. They were placed in a massive, pale-blue room with Republic guards standing at attention.  
Nevin got out, as did R2-S2 and they were greeted by a tall black man, who led them down a corridor.   
"The Presidents are glad that your are still alive after your long journey through the Galaxy, Mr Karr."  
"Oh," Nevin said as he looked around.   
He was eventually taken into the main hall where the Presidents sat at their thrones. Nevin knelt down and bowed his head.  
"Good day, Presidents Solo," he said. "I have returned with R2-S2 although I forgot to bring C-3GA along with me."  
Leia smiled.  
"That doesn't matter, Nevin," she said as he got up. "We're just glad that you are okay. After all, you have been fighting against the Sith and are a great hero."  
"Thank you, President Leia. I am sorry that you were taken over by the Sith. I was hoping that it wouldn't happen, but it has."  
"Hey, kid," Han said reassuringly, "we'll get those dark guys easily now that you and your pals have set the Jedi population free. The New Republic is still a gigantic group of great fighters and with the Jedi's help we'll bring freedom to the Galaxy in no time."  
Nevin gave a quick glance at Leia.  
"So," she said, "you'd like to join us?"  
"Yeah," Nevin answered, "if it's not too much of a problem."  
"Of course not," Han said as he shook his head quickly. "The more the merrier. Besides, we could use some more fighters around."  
"In fact," Nevin pointed out, "Silvia Arala and possibly Jac Blay might join too."  
Leia smiled and said, "Well that's excellent. We have other Jedi as well, including my brother, Luke."  
Nevin's eyes widened.  
"Luke Skywalker?" he said. "Here?"  
"Of course," Leia answered. "Have you not met him before?"  
"Yeah, I've met him at the Jedi Academy a few times, but not since about two years."  
"Well you'll be going on loads of missions with him," Han said. "He's second in command of Rogue Squadron and the head is Wedge Antilles, our leader of flight missions."  
"Well I'll be glad to meet him too," Nevin said. "In the meantime, I should be getting back to Yentooine, so I can get my friends. We should be back here in about an hour at the most."  
"Great," Leia said. "May the Force be with you."  
"Thanks. Bye."  
Nevin left the room and walked down the long corridor that led back to the landing bay. He got into the Blue Talon and left immediately.  
  
"My lord," Darth Lane said as he stepped into Dredian's personal chambers, "I followed the Blue Talon, just as you asked, and the Jedi landed on a planet called Yentooine in the Coruscant System. As far as I know, they are still there as we speak, but I wasn't sure what to do, so I came back here."  
Dredian faced away from the window and looked at Lane with an evil scowl.  
"You could have at least used a comlink or a hologram to inform me," he said, "rather than coming all the way back here to Coruscant and letting them easily escape."  
"Sorry, my lord."  
"Now go back there immediately and just kill Nevin Karr.and make sure you definitely kill him."  
"Yes, my lord."   
Lare left the room and Dredian looked back out at the beautiful buildings of Coruscant.  
  
The Blue Talon landed at Jeehidabee City and was greeted by one of the gigantic, black Herva Dragons. Silvia and C-3PO came out from the massive doors of the hotel and ran through the Dragon's legs.   
"That didn't take long," she said as she approached Nevin. "Did you find anything?"  
"I sure did," Nevin said. "We're joining the New Republic!"  
"That's great! They're probably the second largest organisation in the Galaxy, second to the Sith Dominion!"  
"Exactly, so that gives us a better chance of getting the Galaxy back. Was Jac found?"  
Silvia looked down and shook her head.  
"Don't worry," Nevin said. "I sense he's still alive. We'll just have to wait and see what happens, but in the meantime we'll have to leave without him."  
Silvia and C-3PO followed Nevin into the Blue Talon and the engines began to sputter as he turned it on. It slowly hovered into the air and the Dragons, including Roto, began to wave goodbye at it. It zoomed away into the sky they got back to work in no time.   
  
The Talon landed at one of the bays of the Grand Star Archer and Nevin and Silvia got out, before seeing a medium-built man with a blonde/grey beard and a big smile.   
"It's been a long time, Nevin Karr," he said in a familiar voice. It was Luke Skywalker, one of the most famous Jedi in the Galaxy and he stood right in front of Nevin and Silvia with his hands behind his back and his legs apart.  
"Master Skywalker?" Nevin said. "It's great to see you!"  
They both walked forward and gave each other a manly hug. Luke looked at Silvia.  
"And you, Miss Arala," he said, "I remember when you first came to the Academy as a child. I trust you're still as good a fighter as you used to be."  
"Hello, Master Skywalker," Silvia said as she hugged him. "We thank you, your sister and your brother-in-law for letting us join the New Republic."  
"Well how could we resist letting such excellent pupils joining us at a time like this?" Luke said. "The Presidents are sleeping right now, so I'll show you a few of the places in the Star Archer. Follow me."   
He led them through a bright tunnel and spoke as they walked along.  
"I know the two of you are eager to bring an end to the Sith, but they are way too powerful now. The New Republic are going to wait until a moment when they are at their lowest power and domination, so that we have a good chance of destroying the Sith Tower, the Star Fortress and the Death Palace on Gruesk." They passed a few computer technicians. "I heard about the death of Dale-Mree. I'm sorry."  
"So am I," Nevin said. "There was so much he could have told me about my family and if he were still alive he would be a great help to the New Republic."  
"I know," Luke said as he led them into an elevator. "He was an excellent tutor. When he was younger he was a great pupil as well. While I was training him at the old Jedi Academy in the Massassi Temple he was one of the best students there. He used his mind well."  
"Yeah," Silvia agreed. "He's always thought that the mind is the most important part of a Jedi."  
"Then he would be right," Luke said, "in a way."   
The elevator soon stopped and they all stepped out into a massive public room with a gigantic window on the ceiling that showed thousands of stars in the midst of space. There were thousands of people walking around doing various jobs and some were just sitting down reading.  
"This is the Public Chambers," Luke said. "It's where everyone can relax if they're not on duty, find various data from the information booths, speak to other people and that sort of thing. It's also a place of study, but if it gets too noisy you can go to one of the many libraries spread around the station. Now, if you'll follow me I'll show you the watch tower."   
He took them back to one of the elevators and pressed a button.  
"So, I trust you're both great pilots?" he asked. "'Cause we'll be going on a lot of missions to help people. That is one the New Republic's many jobs, after all."  
"Yeah, we're both experienced pilots," Nevin answered, "but Silvia does have her own ship. Well she does, but she left it on Yavin 4 before the second Academy was destroyed."  
"That doesn't matter," Luke said. "We have millions of ships that we can supply to you if you want."  
"Great," Silvia said. "Will we be flying with Rogue Squadron?"  
"Probably," Luke said. "There are so many pilots in it now that it's become more a fleet than a squadron. I suppose the pilots nowadays are much better than the ones during the Galactic Civil War."  
Nevin nodded his head agreeably and the elevator opened up again. They were in a domed room at the top of a tower that stood at the front of the Star Archer.  
"This is the Watchtower," Luke said. "It's practically the control deck of the station where everything is checked to be okay and anything unknown heading towards the station is identified. It's also where the station is steered, although we don't actually need to move around that much. It's only if there's an emergency that we'll need to budge somewhere else."  
"Can it move at light-speed?" Nevin asked as he looked through the massive, glass view-screen at the stars.  
"It sure can," Luke replied. "So if it becomes under attack then we just make a run for it, unless we're not feeling cowardly and we decide to fight back. Now, I've shown you the main places in the station and you'll pick up everything else as you go along. If you need anything then just call me or Admiral Vritaxe using one of the telecom booths at the Public Chambers. In the meantime I shall show you your rooms."  
He walked back into the elevator with the two Jedi following him and pressed another button.   
"So," Luke said, "Leia told me you might be bringing another friend along."  
"Yeah," Silvia said with a sigh, "but he disappeared on Yentooine. The Dragons there told us he might have been eaten by one of the many massive creatures there. Still, we both sense he is alive."  
"Then he is," Luke said encouragingly, "and I hope you reunite with him soon."  
The elevator soon opened again and in front of them was a long corridor with people walking about with various things in their hands. Luke led Nevin and Silvia down it and stopped at a door numbered, '752647.'   
"This is your room, Silvia," Luke said as he gave her an identification card. "And yours, Nevin, is the one opposite."   
He passed him a card as well and they both opened their doors that led into their own warm, cosy rooms.   
"Do you have any luggage in your ship that you'd like me to bring up to your room?" Luke asked.  
"No thanks," Nevin said, "although C-3PO and R2-S2 are still in there.  
"You may keep R2-S2," Luke said. "An Astromech Droid is important for your ship."  
"Are you sure?" Nevin asked proudly.  
"Of course," Luke replied as he patted Nevin on the back. "We have loads of them, but if you don't mind, we'll take the Protocol Droid."  
"Thank God," Nevin and Silvia both said at the same time.  
  
Chapter 14 - Two Sides to Every Story   
  
Over the next few weeks Nevin and Silvia settled in well. They hadn't had any missions to go on yet. Instead, they were being taught the ways in which the Republic worked and the standards that were needed while working. Nevin had made a couple of returns to Yentooine to see if the Dragons had seen anything of Jac, but they hadn't found a thing. It seemed it was certainly lost forever, but Nevin and Silvia both felt he was still alive somehow. They even tried to contact him using the Force, but they couldn't get to him. There was some sort of interference or a barrier that stopped them from passing words into his mind and they couldn't even tell how far away he was. All they sensed was that he was still alive.  
Nevin lined up at the entrance to one of the many diners on the Star Archer behind hundreds of other men and women with a plate in his hand. Despite the high amount of people in front of him the queue moved rather quickly, as all that need to be done was to place your plate inside a holder that dropped food onto it.  
When he got to the large, black machine he put his plate on the rack and watched as a large tube quickly moved above it and squirted out some mashed acker seeds, a toasted frew hare leg and some sort of weird, red, slushy stuff onto it. He looked behind at the massive room with hundreds of tables and walked towards one of them before sitting down on his own. He took a nibble at the tough, chewy hare leg and spat out the gristle onto his plate.   
Suddenly, Luke sat down besides him with his own dinner and said, "How ya doing, Nev? Looking forward to your first mission?"  
"Of course I am," Nevin replied as he put the hare leg down. "Where exactly will we be going?"  
"Well it's only a training mission. Probably nowhere special."  
"What will we do?"  
"Probably a little bit of target practice, manoeuvring tactics, tricks and that sort of thing. Nothing special."  
Nevin nodded his head and began to eat the red sludge with his spoon. He screwed his eyes up and swallowed it slowly.  
"Don't worry," Luke said. "You'll get used to the food after a while. Anyway, the mission takes place on Core Tuesday, so what will you be doing tomorrow?"  
Nevin put his spoon down.  
"Well, I was thinking about my parents and I've decided that I want to speak to my brother. He'll know everything."  
Luke frowned and shook his head.  
"But your brother was not a Jedi."  
"No, but he contacted me a while back. He actually spoke to me and yet he isn't even a Jedi Knight or Master."  
Luke sighed.  
"He was probably speaking to you for the last time. He was strong in the Force, so although he wasn't a Jedi he could barely say a few last words, words that saved your life."  
Nevin fiddled about with his food.  
"So you're saying I may never speak to him again?"  
"Well you may, but you can't exactly summon him. He will speak to you at unexpected times or when you are need of help."  
"Well I'm in need of help now."  
"I mean when you're in danger."  
"Oh."  
Nevin sighed and looked down at his lap.  
".Well how about Dale-Mree?" he suggested. "I can speak to him, right?"  
"I would think so. If he is one of the only links to your family then he will speak to you eventually."  
"How do I speak to him? Should I reach out with the Force and try to contact him?"  
Luke chewed on a piece of meat.  
"Well," he said, "just before me and Han found out about the Hutts' Darksabre Project I tried to speak to Ben Kenobi in the best way possible. I returned to his dusty, abandoned home and tried to talk to him. It didn't work, but that was for a certain reason that I won't go into. It should work for you though. If you go to his original home, which I presume is on Corellia, you can reach out and summon him."  
"Will it definitely work?"  
"I think and hope so. Another idea would be to go to his place of death."  
"The Sith Tower? I think that would be just a little bit dangerous, so I'll go to Corellia.first thing tomorrow."  
Luke gave him suspicious look.  
"Do you know exactly where he grew up?" he asked. "Was it in Coronet, was it in a farm, was it somewhere in the Gold Beaches? Where was it?"  
"A small village in a valley, I think."  
"Well do you know what it's called or what valley it's in?"  
"I know that it's only a few miles away from Coronet, that's about all."  
"Well you should be able to find it then."  
"What if it isn't there anymore?"  
"Well as long as you're quite close to the spot where it used to be then he should come. You'll just have to see what happens."  
Nevin smiled understandably and drove his fork into the acker seeds before putting it into his mouth and swallowing them.   
".Will he definitely speak to me?" he asked Luke. "Are you absolutely sure he'll appear?"  
Luke patted him on the back and said, "Don't you worry, Nevin. Even if he doesn't speak to you now then he will some other time. You'll just have to be patient. I was once like you. I knew that my guardians were not my real parents and I had no idea of their whereabouts. It came to a great shock to find that one of the most evil men in the Galaxy as my father, but I coped."  
Nevin gulped.  
"You don't think Darth Dredian's my father do you?" he asked.  
Luke chuckled softly as he swallowed some food.  
"No Nevin," he said. "Definitely not. Anyway, that's me done," he said as he picked up the empty plate and got out of his seat. "I'm giving some new recruits a tour soon and I also have tons of conscript figures to work on, so I may not see you until the morning."  
"Okay," Nevin said. "I'll see ya then."  
"See ya."  
Luke walked away, dropped his plate into a small, bin-like case and left the room. Nevin poked his food around and ate some of the utterly putrid seeds before almost gagging them back up again.  
  
Next morning he said goodbye to Silvia as he locked his room and walked down the long corridor on his way to the Ship Bay. He opened one of the hundreds of elevators in the corridor and pressed the correct button, before soon climbing into the Blue Talon. R2-S2 was inside and bleeped a few sounds of greetings.  
"Hi, R2," Nevin said as he flipped a few of the engine switches on. Luke suddenly walked into the room wearing black Jedi clothing and his lightsabre by his side.  
"I just came to say goodbye," he said to Nevin. "Also, don't be too long."  
"I won't," Nevin said as he closed the view-screen latch. "I'll be back before you know it."  
"You'd better be. The training mission is tomorrow, so don't mess up and get stranded on Corellia or anything like that."  
Nevin rolled his eyes and sighed.  
"See ya, Luke."   
The ship rose a few feet off of the ground and began to move out of the station slowly and steadily.   
"Alright, R2," Nevin said, "set a course for the Corellian System in the Corellian Sector."  
R2 made a couple of amiable sounds and set the Talon's hyperdrive for the Corellian System. Within a few seconds, all that could be seen through the view-screen were thousands of straight, bright lines, which soon changed to a dark, kaleidoscopic outlook of confusing colours that hurt Nevin's eyes when he looked for too long.   
The Corellian System was not very far from the Star Archer, so the Blue Talon had slowed down within only a couple of minutes and Corellia, home-world to Han Solo, Wedge Antilles and Crix Madine, was in sight. It was a green/blue planet with long, rippled clouds blocking some areas of view.   
The Talon soon entered the Corellian atmosphere and flew quickly down towards the hilly surface.   
"R2," Nevin said, "set a quick course for Coronet City."  
The Droid yapped and whistled a few times and the ship quickly changed its angle to an almost horizontal approach.   
It flew through some of the moist clouds, which condensed the view-screen and soon they were near the Gold Beaches, just by the large city of Coronet. The tall, round buildings looked almost organic and there were a lot of transport ships flying in, out and around the city.  
"Right," Nevin said, "which direction shall we look first?"  
R2 uttered some sounds that suggested 'straight on.'  
"Then straight on it shall be," Nevin said as he held the steering stick steadily.   
They went for about twenty miles through the Coronet edifices and then zoomed across some of Corellia's large fields, before coming to some hilly land with small areas of forests. There were quite a few valleys and ravines that they flew over, but the one that caught Nevin's eyes was one with smoke coming from behind a large mound. As the Talon flew past the mound a small village with round, straw huts with thatched roofs came into view.   
They landed in the centre of the settlement and Nevin climbed out of the Blue Talon as villagers stared in wonder. He looked around at the people and they stared straight back at him, as though he were some sort of lost alien, crash-landed on their world.  
"Do you think this is the place, R2?" he asked as R2-S2 poked his head out of the top of the Talon.   
An old woman walked up to the two of them while holding her husband's arm.  
"Excuse me," she said in a frail voice. "Are you from the city?"  
Nevin scratched his head as he looked as the other villagers.  
"No," he answered. "I'm here to speak to Dale-Mree Jinn. Well, kind of."  
The two old partners looked at each other with their eyes wide open and their mouths dropped and then looked back at Nevin.  
"You know Dale-Mree Jinn?" the old man asked. "I'm afraid he's long gone. In fact, he left this place over twenty years ago."  
Nevin was surprised at what the old man said.  
"You mean he used to live here?" he asked. "Is this where he was born and raised?"  
"It sure is," the woman said. "Me and Bol, here, used to play with him as kids. I remember when we'd go into the forest and hunt for dangerous sand panthers. We never found any though."  
"Just as well," Bol said. "Those things have poison claws and they'll eat a child in no time."  
Nevin ignored them and said, "Look, it's been nice talking to you and everything, but I gotta run. Bye."   
He didn't get back into his ship, as they had expected him to. Instead, he ran into the trees nearby, so that he couldn't be seen."  
"Perhaps he needs to take a leak or something," Bol said. "C'mon, Zilla, let's go."   
They held hands and walked back into their hut.   
  
In the trees, Nevin was not going to the toilet, but trying to speak with Dale-Mree. He looked around and waited.  
"Dale-Mree," he said, "it's me, Nevin. Look, could we talk for a second?"  
Nothing happened.  
".Oh, please, Dale-Mree! I need to know of my family and you might be my only hope."  
Something felt strange in the woods and a blurry, bluish figure appeared, sitting on a branch in a tree. The man jumped down and revealed himself.  
"Dale-Mree!" Nevin said surprised. "It's you!"  
Nevin was about to hug him, but then decided it wouldn't work.  
"I'm so glad you're here!" he said. "I thought you wouldn't come!"  
"Of course I would come back, Nevin," Dale-Mree said in a friendly tone. "A Jedi Master needs to stand by his student, whether he is alive or not."  
Nevin was still excited at the Jedi's appearance and wasn't sure what t say.  
"So why did you come here," Dale-Mree asked. "Is it about your parents?"  
".Yeah. How'd ya guess?"  
Dale-Mree sighed and sat down on the grass. Nevin sat down as well.  
"Well, I knew I would have to tell you this someday," Dale-Mree said. "I suppose it's gotta be now."  
"Yes. Now."  
"I know you want to know of your parents, Nevin, but I'm worried that if I tell-"  
"Just tell me, Dale-Mree. I appreciate you coming to speak to me, but I think I have the right to know about my parents."  
Dale-Mree sighed again.  
"You're right," he agreed. "You've waited long enough and I suppose you would feel more faithful towards your quest if I were to tell you of your family and how everything happened. I shall start from the beginning.  
"I was once a young, na‹ve Jedi Apprentice like yourself, Nevin. I had begun my training at a very old age, but I was a good apprentice, according to my master Luke Skywalker."  
"You were trained by Luke Skywalker?" Nevin asked, surprised.  
"Indeed I was."  
"But he's barely a day older than you!"  
"Yes, he wasn't much older than I was, but that was not the point. At that point in time the new generation of Jedi Knights was only at an early stage. It was before the old Academy was destroyed and Luke was a tutor to all that trained there, including myself.   
"I grew stronger and stronger and eventually I was a fully fledged Jedi Knight with great skills. I was getting old, but I was as good with the Force as anyone and Master Skywalker told me that I was practically good enough to be a Jedi Master, something I had been longing to be for a long time. Thus, it was time I got an apprentice of my own.   
But after my wife, Winter died I was filled with so much animosity that I felt like destroying myself, or perhaps destroying the Galaxy. The latter seemed more appropriate and elementary, but a Jedi Knight, called Fraan Karr, who I had known for many years, stood by me and comforted me. He was fervent and warm and a great Jedi Knight, married to Rillia Karr, also a fantastic Force user. He halted my anger and I pulled myself together, knowing that I would be punished if I were to kill myself or anything else.   
"He and Rillia and I became the best of friends and we trusted and credited each other greatly. We were so loyal to each other, in fact, that when their second child, Nevin Karr, was born they asked that on his third birthday I take him to Yavin 4 to be trained as a Jedi. They could not bring him up, as they had to take part in the Dark War, so they gave him to your brother, Bracken. He did not know that by the time you reached the age of three I had to adopt you and he almost refused to let me take you to Yavin 4.   
".Just three years ago I was told by a messenger that your parents had been killed by a Sith Lord."  
Nevin frowned.  
"Weren't you shocked when you heard news that there was a Sith?"  
"Of course I was, but I thought it would be best if I kept my mouth quiet for a while. I surmised that the messenger that brought me the news would let the Galaxy know that there was trouble afoot, but nothing was said about any mysterious Sith Lords or Dark Jedi. For a while I presumed it was a lie or a prank, but when I began to sense a strange surge in the Force I knew your parents were dead.and I knew that the Sith had returned.and I knew that you were the Galaxy's only hope. But by the time I had realised this, you'd already quit your training."  
"So what happened then?"  
"Then I asked my new apprentice, Silvia, who had been given to me after her old tutor died, to go and search for you on Tatooine."  
"And then I came to you and the whole adventure began?"  
"Yes."  
Nevin looked at his feet and shuffled them about a little.  
"So what was the Dark War, then," he asked. "I don't believe I've heard of that."  
"It was a war fought in the Unknown Regions against a gigantic group of strange pirates who threatened to take over the Deep Core and the Core Worlds. It doesn't sound much, but it was a massive war that lasted for almost ten years. Your parents were the ones who defeated the pirates and it was obvious that they were the ones chosen to bring peace and freedom to the Galaxy.  
"It is plain to me now that Darth F'ror had sent those pirates as a first attempt to take over the Galaxy without the Sith being found out. All those pirates were actually slaves that had been forced to fight. When F'ror realised that your parents were such a big threat he sent his apprentice, Darth Dredian to kill them, which he succeeded in doing so.  
"Another thing that is worrying me is the fact that F'ror knew that their children would be as strong in the Force as they were, if not better, and I get the feeling he knew only about Bracken at first, as you were born quite secretly and taken to Yavin 4 at the age of three."  
"So what does that mean?"  
"It means that it is possible - notice I say 'possible' - that Bracken did not die of a disease. He was killed by Dredian as well.  
"It was not until later that F'ror noticed that there was a second son, who would have been powerful enough to destroy him."  
Something suddenly struck Nevin and he remembered something vital that Jac had once told him.  
"Jac said something about there being three people capable of destroying the Sith: Bracken, myself and someone else. Who?"  
Dale-Mree looked Nevin in the eyes.  
".Darth F'ror sensed Bracken's and your presence and he must have sensed someone else's as well. That person was Darth Dredian."  
Nevin frowned in confusion.  
"I don't understand," he said. "Why would Dredian kill him?"  
"Well, one of the only people who can kill a Sith Lord is another Sith Lord; a powerful Sith Lord. Dredian did indeed kill F'ror. F'ror did not die of old age."  
"So which Sith Lord would be capable of killing Dredian?"  
"F'ror would. One of them was destined to kill the other and become ruler of the Galaxy and it turned out to be Dredian."  
"So does that have something to do with the double Sith thing? Does it mean that one Sith is destined to kill the other, just like Vader did with Palpatine?"   
Dale-Mree sighed and shook his head.  
"I really don't know, Nevin. All I know is that you are the only one capable of defeating Dredian and no one else. You must fight him alone, even without my guidance, which is why I'm not sure I should say too much."  
"Well telling me things here and now won't make a difference, will it?"  
"Anything's possible, Nevin. Me telling you something could change the fate of the Galaxy all together. I wouldn't want it to be my fault that the Sith rule forever."  
"But what about if I have children? Will they be able to defeat the Sith?"   
"Possibly. But whatever happens, I think it would best that I leave.now."  
Nevin's lip moved up and decided not to protest against Dale-Mree's decision to go. He had nothing more to ask and it was time he got back to R2 and the Talon.  
"I will see you again, won't I?" he asked. "You'll come to me if I'm in need of help or if I'm in danger, right?"  
"Of course we'll see each other again, Nevin. But I doubt I will be able to help every single time you're in danger. You need to lead your own life now. It's high time you start to make your own decisions and do what you think is right. Understand?"  
Nevin twirled his lips a little and looked at the soft, grassy ground as he fiddled with a twig.  
"Yeah," he said. "I understand."  
"Good, then I suppose I'd better be going. Don't worry though, Nevin. I shall always be looking over you, wherever you are in the Galaxy."  
As he said those last words he began to fade away, until there was no sign of him at all. Nevin got up and brushed the dirt off of his clothes. He walked back out of the trees and got into the Blue Talon with R2 bleeping at him a few times.  
Soon they were flying back to the Star Archer at full speed through the display of beautiful, shimmering stars and Nevin felt dizzy again as the blurry view-screen flashed while they were going through Hyperspace.   
  
"Men," Luke Skywalker said to twelve new recruits, including Nevin and Silvia, as he walked slowly up and down the briefing room, "this is your first mission, a training mission. Nothing much really, just a few basic manoeuvres and tactics, some of which I'm sure you already know.  
"We will be going to Aquilaris, an ocean planet in the Sakron System. We usually choose water planets like Bestine, Aquaris, Labagda, etceteras, as it is obviously safer than a rocky, mountainous planet or a hot, ash-filled planet where crashes are much more likely to be fatal.  
"We will be leaving in thirty minutes, so I suggest you get ready. All you need is a ship, a helmet and an Astromech Droid. I'll see you at the Ship Bay."  
Luke walked quickly out of the room and the recruits got up and made their way out to the Ship Bay.  
  
"So how did your trip to Corellia go?" Silvia asked, thirty minutes later as she climbed into her X-Wing. "Did Dale-Mree tell you anything?"  
"He sure did," Nevin replied as he put his helmet on. "It seems that Dredian may have killed my brother."  
Silvia put on a sorry face.  
"Oh I'm so sorry, Nevin," she said.   
"Don't worry, it's not important. What's important is that I kill Dredian and make sure the Sith are wiped out again, so that peace and freedom returns to the Galaxy. As far as I know, there is absolutely no doubt that I am the only one capable of defeating Dredian. He killed my family and-"  
"Sorry, Karr," Luke said, "but we're leaving now, so discuss whatever you were talking about when we get back."  
"Alright," Nevin replied and he sat in the pilot's seat of the Blue Talon. He switched on the engines and took off with the other X-Wings, before flying out of the Star Archer and zooming into the distant background of stars.  
  
Aquilaris was, as Luke said, a planet covered completely in water. It had a few underwater and floating cities here and there, but most of it was just a massive area of ocean. The water reflected the shape of the ships as they flew across the planet and Nevin's ship stood out amongst the other X-Wings.   
"Okay, fleet," Luke said, his voice slightly muffled, "this is Aquilaris. We're gonna start off with a few manoeuvres and then we'll move on to some harder stuff. Now, watch what I do and then give it a shot yourself."  
He pulled his X-Wing up and it began to zoom high in the air. He pulled back and back, until it was upside down and flying in the opposite direction, before soon finishing a gigantic loop-the-loop.  
The others hesitated for a while and soon tried the same. Looping the loop wasn't a particularly hard thing to do, but trying to judge it so that was the right size was. Some of the pilots pulled back on their steering sticks too hard, so they ended up doing a tiny little ring, while others pulled too softly and so their loop was far too big.   
But some of the pilots were more experienced and managed to do a perfect circle, exactly the same as Luke's. These included Nevin, Silvia and a few other unknown people and Luke planned to watch them carefully, so that he could work out if they were good enough to join the Rogue Squadron straight after the mission, or if they would still need some more training afterwards.   
"Good," he said, "pretty good. Most of you did, err, fine. Now, as you know, that was a loop-the-loop. It's a stratagem used when an enemy is on your tail. The size of your loop depends on how far he is behind you, as you want to get behind him, giving you the chance to blow his ship away. It takes some practise, but after a while you should be able to judge it so well that you'll be able to get absolutely any enemy - no matter how skilled they are - off of your tail."  
  
Darth Dredian's multi-pin bleeped from inside the pocket of his black leather trousers and he pulled it out, before pressing a large, triangular button in the corner. The small screen came out of the slot at the top of the device and showed the face of Darth Lare standing in front of the bright horizon of Yentooine.  
"My lord," he said, "I have scanned the whole of Yentooine and Nevin is not here, although I managed to find Jac Blay, one of his partners, in a canyon. What do you suggest I do with him?"  
"Bring him here."  
"To the Sith Tower, my lord?"  
"Yes - no! Bring him to the Star Fortress, instead. Then give order for it to come here and collect me, for I have a good idea."  
"Yes, my lord."  
Dredian switched the multi-pin off and put it back in his pocket.   
  
"Okay, people," Luke said, "that's enough for today. When we get back to the Grand Star Archer I'd like to see Feradon Neek, Billis Laan, Silvia Arala, Nevin Karr and Tiktik Paboo please. Now let's go."  
The men and women had learned many moves (moves that one can't be bothered to go into) that day and all the pilots' names that Luke had called out were obviously the ones that had proved that they were already good enough to be part of the ever-growing Rogue Squadron.  
  
Once they were back at the Star Archer, Luke took Nevin and Silvia into his large office and sat down at his desk in front of them. There were three other pilots in the room with them.  
Feradon Neek was a male, red Twi'lek with two long, chubby, tail-like appendages, known as Lekku, protruding from the back of his hairless head, hanging down behind his back. He had a set of short, sharp teeth and had long, curved fingers with long, black nails coming out from the end of them. His eyes bulged out slightly and his back was almost as high as his head, making him look like an evil, demented monster, but he was, in fact an excellent pilot waiting to be assigned to the Rogue Squadron.  
Billis Laan was a female, orange, smooth-skinned Quarren with four short tentacles protruding from the point where a mouth should be. Her head was triangular-shaped with two sets of gills and she wore a long, brown, dusty robe. Her eyes were a bright shade of blue and above her oral tentacles were two short, pointed tusks curving down.  
Tiktik Paboo was a white, furry Talz with four black, shiny eyes - two big ones and a smaller pair just above. He was well over six feet tall and had a short, tiny tube for a mouth and long, sharply taloned hands. He looked like a menacing figure and despite his blurry vision he was a very adept pilot with the strength of a Wookie.  
"Right then," Luke said as he finished writing something down in a folder on his desk, "all of you, I trust, have experienced piloting before, unless of course your species is naturally born an immediate master pilot?"  
The others nodded their heads, agreeing with the first section of Luke's question.  
"Well I'm assigning you all to the Rogue Squadron Flotilla 500," he said. "You've all proofed that you are capable of flying with the New Republic's main armada - I watched every single one of you down at Aquilaris and I was very impressed. The Rogue Squadron is split into 500 flotillas. Flotilla 1 is where the best of the best belong, like Wedge Antilles and Anakin Solo. Flotilla 2 would be second best and so on, but this only carries on to flotilla 50. All the flotillas that are over fifty are just all the same and not put into special classes of skill. This doesn't mean that none of you are capable of being in the higher classes, it's just that I can't put you straight into one of the flotillas below fifty-one. You'll just have to work your way up the scale and prove to your trainers that you are qualified enough to get to a better flotilla. I know it all sounds a little confusing, but you'll understand eventually.   
"Anyway, you'll train for four hours a day, seven days a week, from One AM to Five AM. You meet your instructors at Ship Bay 41. Okay? You all got that?"  
Everyone hesitated and then done a slow nod.  
"Any questions?"  
Nothing.  
"Good, then you may spend the rest of the day freely, but tomorrow is when your main training begins, so be at Ship Bay 41 at One AM, okay?"  
"Yep," they all said.  
"Good," Luke said. "Dismissed."   
Everyone left the room and headed back to their rooms.  
  
Chapter 15 - Deadly Summons  
  
Meanwhile, Darth Dredian walked down the extremely long, metal bridge that went from the top of the Sith Tower to the massive Star Fortress. The massive ship was so big that it cast a gigantic shadow over the large area of city on Coruscant. Anyone underneath would think that it was night, but it was, in fact a pewter sky above them.  
As Dredian entered, Darth Lane immediately began to walk beside him with his hands behind his back.  
"My lord," he said, "we have Jac Blay in the holding cells at the bottom of the craft. Would you like to see him? He could prove a great lot of use to us, considering he is one of-"  
"Yes, yes, yes," said Dredian. "You do not need to go on and on, Darth Lane. I already know what to do with him, so take me straight there, without the gibberish."  
"Yes, my lord."  
  
They soon came close to the bottom of the Star Fortress and Darth Lare took Dredian to the cell where Jac was. Jac was sitting down when they arrived, but he soon stood up when he noticed them.  
"So," Dredian said, "we meet again Jac Blay. I swore I would kill you after you joined the Jedi at the battle on Gruesk, but it seems there will be a better use for you."  
Jac put an angry look on his face and said, "Oh yeah? What's that?"  
Dredian stared into Jac's eyes and concentrated hard. He pushed the Force through Jac's mind and began to slowly move his hands across his face.  
"You will do exactly as I tell you," he said. "Now, you will speak to your friend, Nevin Karr and ask exactly where he is."  
Jac couldn't control what he was doing. He tried to come out of the trance, but his body began to take over and his head looked up.  
"Nevin," he called out, using the Force without even trying, "it's me Jac."  
  
Back at the Star Archer, as Nevin was eating some food in one of the cafeterias he heard Jac's words echo through his head like a ghostly whisper. He froze still for a second and then spat his food.  
"Jac?" he said, astonished. "Jac, is it you?"  
"Nevin," the voice echoed again. "Where are you?"  
"Uh, the Grand Star Archer," Nevin answered. "Are you alright?"  
"Where are you?"  
"The New Republic Grand Star Archer," Nevin repeated. "It's currently orbiting Amuud. You know where Amuud is, don't you?"  
There was no answer.  
  
"He has joined the New Republic," Jac said to Darth Dredian at the Star Fortress. "He is in the Grand Star Archer, which is currently orbiting the planet Amuud."  
Dredian took Jac out of the trance and walked away with Darth Lare beside him.  
"Command the Control Deck to prepare for a transmission to the Grand Star Archer at Bespin," he said. "I would like to speak to all the New Republic citizens if you don't mind."  
"Yes, my lord," Lare said and he spoke into a com-link.  
  
Nevin rushed through the room corridor and quickly bashed hard on Silvia's door.  
"Okay, okay," came her voice from inside her room, "I'm coming."  
She opened the door and sighed.  
"Jac's alive," Nevin immediately said. Silvia's non-caring look suddenly changed to a shocked stare.  
"What?" she said. "How do you know?"  
Nevin stepped into her room and she closed the door behind him. He sat down at a stool near her bed to get his breath back.  
"He spoke to me," he said. "He didn't say much. I just told him where we were, so I presume he's going to come here, but he didn't have his own ship back on Yentooine."  
"Well maybe he found his way to the Dragons and they gave him a ship."  
"Maybe, but he just stopped talking to me as soon as I told him we were."  
"Well perhaps it wasn't actually him."  
"No, it was him, alright. But he wouldn't really immediately stop talking to me without even letting me know if he's okay, would he?"  
"I don't know. Perhaps he was in a hurry and he needed to find us as soon as possible."  
"Well whatever happened, I sense there is trouble afoot."  
"Me too. Do you think we should try to speak to him again, or try and find a way to find him?"  
"I think we should just wait."  
"But we don't know what we're waiting for. What if he's turned back to the Dark Side and is working for Darth Dredian?"  
"Hmm. I dunno - anything could happen."  
Just then the transmission cover in front of Silvia's bed showed the evil face of Darth Dredian. Nevin and Silvia froze and looked at the screen.  
All around the interior of the Star Archer were transmission covers with Darth Dredian and nearly all the people aboard were watching.   
"Good day, New Republic Citizens," Dredian said with a depraved look upon his face. "I am Darth Dredian, as you should all know, and after finding the location of your official Star Base I have a few favours to ask you.or at least one of you, anyway.   
"Aboard the Sith Star Fortress is a man named Jac Blay being kept as a prisoner in the fortress's holding cells. Nevin Karr is one of your Jedi citizens aboard your base and I order that he come to the Star Fortress immediately. He must come with no weapons and he must be alone. If these orders are not carried out within the next hour then I will kill Jac Blay and I will destroy the Grand Star Archer. The Fortress is at grid-reference 657288417589,287189483947, currently passing the planet, Kirodak."  
The message ended.  
"Well that's not good," Nevin said. "I'd better get over there right away."  
He ran out of the door, down the corridor and into the elevator, before entering the Main Ship Bay. R2-S2 rolled beside him and hollered a couple of times, but Nevin didn't reply. He had no time to take the Astromech Droid with him and he quickly jumped into the Blue Talon before taking off into the air and hovering out of the Star Archer. He set a course for Kirodak and soon the Talon was zooming through Hyperspace.  
After thirty minutes he stopped in front of the bright, glowing, orange planet of Kirodak and just beside it was the colossal Star Fortress.   
"Ah," said a voice on Nevin's radio, "You must be Nevin Karr. Enter the ship at Bay 1. There will be someone there to meet you."  
Nevin locked on to Bay 1 and headed there without replying to the Sith officer. As he approached he noticed that the bay was completely empty except for a few crates scattered about the floor.   
He landed, got out of the ship and noticed that standing before him was Jac. He looked as though he was about to say something, but then suddenly a lightsabre blade struck through him from the back and came out from just beside his abdomen. He fell to the ground and Nevin was just about to run and help him when suddenly he noticed that Darth Dredian was there.  
"Glad you could make it, Nevin," he said. "I'm sorry I just killed your poor friend here, but seeing as you agreed to come he was no use to me any more."  
"You won't get away with this, Dredian," Nevin replied calmly. "Even if I don't stop you then someone else will."  
"I doubt it," Dredian said with his usual grin. "You are the last one left in the long line of Jedi that are capable of destroying the Sith, so you are the Galaxy's only hope. Isn't it ironic, though, that you won't kill me. You are young and hardly capable of killing any Sith, let alone the most powerful one in the Galaxy."  
"Actually I killed quite a few the last time I was here and that was without a lightsabre."  
"They must have been young too, but I am now a Jedi Master and I will defeat you like I defeated F'ror!"  
Dredian lifted his sabre high in the air, ran towards Nevin and slashed down. Nevin jumped back and rolled away, quickly activating his sabre as he did so. He got up and blocked another of Dredian's fast attacks and then went for a blow to the Sith's side. Dredian blocked it and pushed Nevin's lightsabre almost out of his hands, before lunging at his chest. Nevin twisted his body around and lifted his foot up high, kicking Dredian in the face. The Sith fell backwards onto the floor holding his broken nose. Nevin had already found these first three seconds of fighting hard and he knew that Dredian was right about him being too weak to defeat him.   
He picked up Jac, who was still barely alive and put him into the Blue Talon quickly, but then he suddenly sensed Dredian's presence behind him. He quickly turned around and activated his lightsabre, just in time to block another one of the powerful lunges.   
A duel broke out again and as Nevin deterred Dredian's mighty attacks he felt himself get weaker and weaker. There was absolutely no doubt that he could never beat the Sith Lord - well not in the condition he was in now. He needed more training if he wanted to become a Jedi Knight.  
So he ducked under another strike and catapulted himself backwards, doing a back flip, before landing on the Blue Talon. He quickly bounced inside the cockpit and closed the hatch. He took off and watched Dredian standing there with his sabre in his hand.  
"That's it!" the Sith Lord snarled. "Run like the coward I know you to be! But you won't be returning back to the New Republic's home-base, for it will be blown to smithereens before you get there!"  
Nevin zoomed away from the Star Fortress, hoping not to be caught by any tractor beams, but fortunately there were none. He was about to say something to R2, but then realised that he wasn't even there. He contacted the Star Archer's control room and spoke into a small microphone.  
"Star Archer, this is Nevin Karr. I repeat: this is Nevin Karr. Do you read me?"  
"Loud and clear, Mr Karr," said a voice through the radio. "Are you okay?"  
"Yeah, but the New Republic might not be. The Star Archer will be destroyed in no less than thirty minutes, so I suggest you start evacuating."  
"Don't worry, pilot. We're changing our identification-code, our location and our detection grade, so there's no way those Sith will find us."  
"Great, but be careful. Some of those guys can be real crackers and they'll be able to find your location pretty soon."  
"Don't worry, we have everything under control."  
"Good, then I'm going straight to Thyferra. My friend here is in need of some bacta."  
"Well we have plenty of bacta tanks here, sir."  
"I know, but it takes half an hour to get to you from here, yet Thyferra is only a few minutes away."  
"Okay then, pilot. If you insist."  
"Goodbye. Over and out."  
  
Chapter 16 - Falling Hours   
  
Thyferra was a large, green world covered with rainforests and small seas. It was best known for its bacta fluid, a medicinal, translucent chemical that could heal almost any injury, including a lightsabre wound. Its inhabitants were the Vratix: tall, mantis-like people and Humans.   
As the Blue Talon swooped over the trees, Nevin kept looking behind his seat to see if Jac was still alive. It was hard to tell while he was just lying there so still with blood covering most of his body below his shoulders.   
The scanning screen on the control board started to bleep after it had found a base nearby, called Firazeyu and Nevin decided to drive there manually, so that he could get there more quickly.  
  
Meanwhile, only several miles behind them was Darth Lare's white ship, the Fate Raider, zooming over the trees of Thyferra. He had followed them all the way from the Star Fortress and was planning an ambush.  
"Firazeyu Base," he said into his comlink, "this is Fate Raider, right on target's tail. He should be arriving in less than 3 minutes."  
"Yes, sir," replied a control officer at the Firazeyu Base. "Our soldiers are ready and even if the target escapes us then they won't escape the five bases nearby."  
"Good," Lare said. "Make sure they don't get out of the atmosphere either. The Star Palace has left now, in search of the New Republic Base, so we have no ships to capture them."  
"Don't worry, sir. We have several tractor crafts right above, and another load just outside the ozone. They cannot run and they cannot hide."  
"Excellent. They will be approaching in 2 minutes time and remember, stay calm and don't attack until they are in the building."  
"Yes sir."  
"Good. Over and out."  
Darth Lare turned the comlink off and pushed harder on the steering stick, making the Fate Raider zoom at an even higher speed.  
  
Nevin looked at his principal monitor and then turned back to Jac.  
"Don't worry, Jac," he said quickly. "You're gonna survive, I swear. Just two more minutes and we'll be at one of the processing plants." Nevin had no idea if Jac could actually hear what he was saying, but he kept talking anyway. "As soon as we get off this planet we'll go to the Republic Grand Star Archer and fight in fighter ships, kicking those Sith butts. All ya gotta do is just hold on."  
He turned back and pushed harder on the steering stick, increasing the speed to its maximum. The trees rushed along below them so quickly that it was hard to tell that they were actually trees - not a huge sea of green water.   
They soon approached what was meant to be a processing plant, but it looked far too big to be any sort of factory. It was shaped like a rounded pyramid with red spikes protruding from the sides of it. It looked way to evil to be anything but danger. There were also no cities, towns, villages or a house for miles, so why would there be a processing plant so far away?  
Still, Nevin didn't have time to ponder this thought, as his main concern was getting Jac some bacta. He had spent way too long speaking to the Republic control secretary up in space and now Jac had lost pints of blood.  
"Uh," he quickly spoke into the comlink, "this is Nevin Karr of the New Republic and I have a man here who is dying fast from a lightsabre wound. Would it be okay if I could land and bring him inside, so that you could-?"  
"Certainly," interrupted a fast, mysterious voice. "Just land your ship anywhere on the space outside and come straight in."  
"Err, okay."  
He quickly landed the Talon on the large patch of grass, careless of whether he damaged the landing stands or not. He knew that something fishy was going on, but even if there was danger nearby he had to get to some bacta soon. He pulled Jac out through the passenger door until he lay on the grass. Jac was six feet tall and had a very muscular build, so Nevin decided not to pick him up. Instead he kept dragging him along on the grass and looked worriedly at the long, red, bloodstain that he left on the ground.  
Through the large, oval door of the building was a thirty-metre-long, lighted, blue corridor that was as quiet as Ord N'bon. Nevin looked down it and wondered if someone should be waiting for him.  
After a short while, he could wait no longer, so he dragged Jac down it. He was no further than a quarter of the way when suddenly, from what seemed like out of nowhere came a group of fifteen men each with powerful guns in their hands. They wore bright, blue, armour and large black and white helmets.  
Nevin let go of Jac and pulled his lightsabre from his belt as fast as lightning. After activating it he waved it here and there at an incredible speed, blocking all the bullets and rebounding them back at the guards, but he could not hold them off forever.  
Soon he quickly deactivated his sabre and made an effort to pick up Jac, barely succeeding. He ran back down the corridor in an attempt to reach the Blue Talon, but at the entrance stood Darth Lare, seven feet tall with a long, black, Sith tunic and a long, red lightsabre.  
"You lose, Jedi," he said quietly to himself. "Thank you, men!" he said more loudly to the soldiers. "You can stop firing now!"  
The soldiers put their guns away and walked in the opposite direction to Nevin, Jac and Lare, until the disappeared around the corner at the end of the corridor.  
"That was easier than I thought," Lare said as he stroked his black moustache. "No tractor ships, no deaths, no trouble. You just walked straight into the trap without even sensing the danger approaching you.or rather the danger that you were approaching.  
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Darth Lare, chief servant and part-apprentice of Darth Dredian. I have gone through a lot of trouble finding you and now it seems I finally have the chance to kill you, leaving the Sith to reign forever."  
Nevin placed Jac on the floor, wondering how he had still managed to stay alive all this time.   
"The Sith will never reign forever, even if you manage to kill me, for there is another person capable of destroying you," Nevin lied. Lare frowned in confusion.  
"What?" he said.  
"You heard me. There is another."  
"Who?"  
"Do you really expect I or anyone else will tell you? She is safe and sound on an uncharted planet in the Unknown Regions of the Galaxy and she is training harder and harder everyday to reach the standards of Darth Dredian."  
"I can sense you are lying. What is the point in lying at this stage in time? Even if you kill me you will not get away, for those guards I sent away have not just gone to their usual jobs. I have made a deal with them: If they keep you on this planet then I will give them a huge sum of money and imported materials. Therefore, they will do everything in their power to make you die. Those soldiers, and many others in the building, are setting up tractor beams, locking doors, getting in attack positions and basically doing anything that will stop you from leaving."  
"Well I'm not gonna die," Nevin replied, "and neither is my friend, Jac, so you'd better get out of the way or I'll be forced to take action."  
"What? Kill me? Is that what you really want to do? I thought Jedi Knights were supposed to fight only in defence."  
"This is defence. I'm defending Jac from death, so get out of the way."  
"You still don't understand, do you. Your ship is being carried away and there is nobody here to help you. What exactly makes you think you are going to get out of here?"  
Nevin activated his lightsabre.  
"Fine," Lare continued. "Prepare to die."  
The sabres clashed together as the two men duelled near the entrance. Lare was bigger and stronger, but Nevin was faster and more acrobatic. He dived out of the way of the red beam swooping past him and quickly got up, before lunging his sabre straight into the Sith Lord's shoulder. He deactivated his sabre and kicked him in the face, knocking his massive body to the ground, unconscious. He reached into his pocket and brought out a small grey device with five circular buttons on it and pressed one.  
  
Meanwhile, above the deeper rainforests of Thyferra, the Blue Talon was being held upon a flat, disk on top of a freighter ship. Eight soldiers stood by it, guarding it as they looked over the edge of the freighter at the rainforests forty metres below them.   
Suddenly, as if by magic, the Blue Talon's engines began to flare up, pushing one of the soldiers back and making him fall over the edge of the freighter to his death. The others looked around confused, trying to look for a cause of the incident. Then, the Talon began to slowly rise up.  
"Hey!" one of the soldiers said waving his gun around, hoping to find a culprit to shoot. "Stop it!"  
All of the soldiers waited for someone else to do something, but it seemed there was nothing they could do. They just watched as it hovered in the air.  
  
Meanwhile, back at the Soldier Base, Nevin pressed another button on his remote controller.   
Soon, the Blue Talon came flying over the trees towards him. He struggled to pick up Jac again and then waited for his ship to land on the grass patch. He opened the door by using the remote controller again and put Jac inside.  
After taking off he wondered if taking Jac to the bacta tanks at the Star Archer had have been a better idea after all. Anyway, he couldn't do that now. He still wouldn't be able to get off of the planet with the soldiers still trying to get him, so he decided to look for another bacta processing plant, this time hoping it not to be a soldier base that had made a deal with the Sith to capture him.   
He went at full speed, as there was almost no doubt that some other ships had already targeted him with their scanners and were already on his tail. But soon he targeted something of his own. According to his scanning monitor there was a city about fifty miles away called Xucphra. He headed in its direction and zoomed swiftly along. Jac had not made a sound for ages and Nevin feared he was already dead.  
While concentrating on getting to the city, something rather sudden appeared in front of the Talon's view-screen. A massive gun of some sort, possibly a drone gun, shot up from the trees facing the Talon. Nevin's reactions just about gave him the opportunity to swerve the ship swiftly out of the way, but the gun still managed to get a few shots at it.  
Just as he thought that was it, a squadron of twelve blue, cylinder-shaped ships with pointed cannons spread randomly around their structures came out from the area surrounding the gun.   
"Uh oh," Nevin said worriedly. "This is going to get real tough."  
He slowed down, so that they get a little closer to him and then he pulled back on the steering stick as hard as he could. Just as they were about to take a few decent shots at the Talon, it zoomed up in the air and done a loop-the-loop, until it was behind them all.  
Nevin targeted and fired at as many of them as possible, but they began to scatter and try to get back in their initial positions. He shot down two and watched their ships plummet into the canopies of he rainforest, before exploding into a thousand pieces. But there were still ten more 'fleas' (as Nevin liked to call any opposing pilots) left.   
They began to fire rapidly at him and the Talon began to shake from side to side and up and down.   
"Shield down to 19 percent," said his onboard computer, which was only activated when there was no Astromech Droid aboard. He pushed down on the stick and the ship tilted forward. He went down and down and down, until he dangerously submerged into the thick leaves of the forests. It was a risky thing to do, but it was the only place to hide and without R2-S2 here, he shields wouldn't be able to charge up again.  
He flew swiftly in between the crowded trees and kept his concentration at all times. He felt the Force flow through him as he calmly moved the steering stick here and there.   
Soon he noticed that the other ships had gone under the roofs of the trees as well and were starting to fire at him again. He pulled up and started to do another loop-the-loop, but then he realised that there wasn't enough room to do so. So instead, he moved slightly higher in the air and held his finger hard on the brake button and the ships all zoomed ahead of him by mistake. It was a common and old trick in the Galaxy and one that Nevin had used many times while being chased by space pirates near Kessel.  
He fired at the rear ends of the crafts that were conveniently way ahead of him now and he managed to shoot down five of them, before dodging their exploding framework as he flew past them. The others began to slow down, so that he would get closer to them, but he tried as hard as he could to stay a fair distance away from them.  
He soon shot down another two and the last three scattered in different directions, until they were no longer seen. Nevin kept on guard though, as he still sensed danger somewhere in the forests. He looked carefully through the view-screen for any of the ships, but there was nothing. The forests weren't quite so jammed now and there were much larger gaps between each tree. There was no grass on the ground, just ferns and some brightly coloured plants.   
Suddenly, the scanning monitor began to bleep and Nevin looked carefully at it. There was some sort of large cruiser above the forests about five hundred miles ahead, which was moving at a steady speed away from him.   
Nevin targeted it and set an automatic course for it, so that he could keep a close eye on the scanning screen. As he got closer towards the cruiser the screen gave more and more details, until it revealed that it was a Thyferran Bacta Cargo Cruiser J50 on course to the Export Shuttle Base Thyferra 20. If Nevin could reach it in time, Jac might possibly live. But he would have to be very lucky, as Jac had lost even more blood and his wound was very serious.  
  
"Sir," a tall, green, mantis-like Vratix said as she walked up to Captain Steriu, also a Vratix, "There's a small star fighter, a TT1800 according to the scanner, approaching us. What do you suggest we do?"  
"Well what do they want?" Captain Steriu replied, as he waved his long, green, pointed arm around his insect-like face.   
"We don't know, sir."  
"Well wait then. If there's just one of them then they won't be able to harm a big ship like this. Just wait and see what they want."  
"But they're coming in very fast, sir."  
"How far away are they?"  
"About twenty miles away. If they carry on at that speed then they should be here within two minutes."  
"Well perhaps we can help them in some way. Let's just wait and see."  
The Commanders on the Cargo Cruiser did wait and soon the Blue Talon slowed down and approached them calmly.  
"Hello there, pilot," said Fehra Zenofwoa, a female Vratix, who was one of the commanders on the Cruiser. "This is Thyferran Bacta Cargo Cruiser J50 on course to Export Shuttle Base-"  
"I need help!" Nevin interrupted quickly. "Well, actually, my friend needs help. He was stabbed with a lightsabre about one and a half hours ago and I fear he is going to die unless I get him to some bacta. Could you please let us come aboard and-"  
"Yes, of course," said Commander Zenofwoa. "Just let me pass a identification scan on you. So you're Nevin Karr and your friend is Jac Blay?"  
"That's right."  
"Okay then, Mr Karr. But may I just point out that you are wanted by Darth Dredian and the Sith?"  
"You may, but I already know. You're still gonna let me in though, aren't you?"  
"Sure. You're just a Jedi after all. Go onto platform 65."  
"Okay."  
He quickly, but calmly, steered the Talon into a gap in the cruiser and landed on platform 65, just he was asked. He got out and three tall Vratix with tight, black clothing picked up Jac.  
"Don't worry, Mr Karr," one of them said. "We're gonna take your friend to the medical chambers. You may come if you like, but keep up."  
Nevin did indeed have to keep up. The Vratix were fast on their nimble legs and he had to pick up a quick jog to stay with them. They soon turned into a door and he followed them in, until another Vratix in white clothing stepped in front of him and blocked his way.  
"Okay, Mr Karr. You just take a seat and we'll try and have your friend, Jac healed."  
"Uh, thanks," Nevin said, and he sat down at a strange, comfortable, floating chair. The other Vratix, who Nevin presumed was a doctor of some sort, walked away into a different room and he was left alone in a white chamber with an entertainment screen and many other chairs.   
  
Nevin drifted off asleep in that waiting room for a good few hours, until the doctor woke him up again by patting his long, hard arm on his shoulder.  
"Uh," he said as his antennae waved around on his head. "Mr Karr, your friend is very lucky. He has gone through many healing stages throughout the last three hours and should be out of here by tonight."  
"Three hours?" Nevin asked as he scratched his head. "What time is it?"  
"Noon."  
"Oh. Right. So is Jac awake?"  
"Yes. As I said, he is very lucky and he can leave tonight."  
"Why not now?"  
"He is still in the bacta tank and his wounds are healing. He'll be out at about seven PM."  
"Can I speak to him?"  
"Of course. Follow me."  
The doctor led Nevin through a dozen long, twisty corridors until they went into a large, circular room with about thirty small, cylindrical bacta tanks at the back. They were all empty, except for the first one, which Jac was in. He wore nothing but a thick loincloth and had a respiration mask around his mouth, so that he could breathe while he was in the thick, red, slimy bacta and also talk to people outside.  
Nevin walked up to the tank and spoke into the communication pillar.  
"Hey," he said. "How ya doing, Jac?"  
"I've been better," Jac replied as he moved slowly around in the tank. "My wounds are hurting."  
"Sorry we left you back at Yentooine."  
"Ah, don't worry. It was stupid of me to walk into that waterfall anyway. Hey, thanks for saving me and all."  
"It was hard work. You only just survived."  
"I know. The doctors told me."  
There was a long silence after that and Nevin watched a tiny insect walk across the silver floor near the tanks.  
"So," Jac said and broke the silence, "what's been happening with you and Silvia?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"I mean what's - been - happening; while I was gone."  
"Oh right. Uh, not much. Oh, actually, come to think of it, quite a bit has happened."  
"Like what?"  
"We've joined the New Republic."  
"Oh," Jac said. He wasn't particularly surprised at Nevin's answer. He knew they'd have to join the Republic eventually. It would be the only chance of beating the Sith Dominion. "So has anything else happened?"  
"Me and Silvia are pilots, both capable of joining the Rogue 'Fleet,' and I guess you will be, too."   
"Oh."  
Another silence commenced and Nevin's toes began to tremble numbly. He looked at the second tank, which was next to Jac's and he tried to find the insect that he'd seen before.  
"I take it you were being hypnotised by Darth Dredian when you called me before?" he asked Jac.  
"What?"  
"You know. When you spoke to me using the Force."  
"Oh right. Yeah, I was being hypnotised by that stupid bastard. I'm sorry I've caused so much trouble for you and everyone else."  
"Don't worry. You haven't been causing trouble for us. Dredian has been causing trouble for us, and I swear I'll brake every bone in his body some day."  
"I'll help ya, Nev. As soon as I get out of this tank and get changed I'll be with you every step of this long, ugly journey."  
"You're a good pal, Jac. I knew right from the beginning that you weren't as evil as you seemed."  
"Really?"  
"Well, kind of. I just had a funny feeling that you would help us in some way. Maybe not join us, but at least help us."  
"I never realised I was so predictable. Anyway, do you mind if I shut-eye for a while? The only time the pain goes away is when I sleep."  
"Sure. We have a long journey ahead of us tonight."  
"Why?"  
"The Star Archer, the principal base of the New Republic, has changed all its targeting and identification numbers, so who knows how long it'll take until we find it again?"  
"Ah, great."  
  
Later, in the Thyferra evening, the Blue Talon flew into the dark, blue skies with Nevin piloting it and Jac eating some Kashyyyk ceun cat at a small table in the back of the ship. Nevin decided to wait a short time near the atmosphere of Thyferra, as there was bound to be someone from the Republic who would be looking for him there. He'd just have to hope that they'd notice each other.  
  
Chapter 17 - Consumed  
  
Dredian sat alone in his meditation chamber aboard the Star Fortress and let his mind run clearly. He felt the Force flow softly through him and he thought of nothing. He concentrated on nonentity, as though he were in a deep sleep.  
But suddenly, a buzzer rang from across the other side of the pitch-black room and woke him from the judgement. He opened his eyes and stood up angrily, before clicking his fingers to make the lights come on.  
"Who is it?" he said as he tried to concentrate on reality again.   
"It is I, my lord," said a shaky voice from outside, "Darth Lare."  
Dredian sighed and sat back down, flicking a switch on the arm of the chair as he did so. The door in front of him slid open, revealing Lare, tall, vile and nefarious with his hands clenched and his black hood covering the top half of his face.  
He walked into the room and lifted the hood back as he knelt down in front of his master.  
"Well?" Dredian said with curiosity in his eyes. "Did you manage to ambush or capture the Jedi after he managed to escape?"  
"Forgive me, my lord," Lare said, still kneeling down. "The boy was fast and-"  
"Fast?" Dredian said with a disgusted look. "You couldn't get that stupid, little man because he was too fast?"  
"Well, not exactly, my lord. It's just that he is far more skilful than I imagined he would be. He took me by surprise and managed to get past me."  
"He beat you?"  
"Well, uh, no. Uh, well, yes, actually, but as I said, I wasn't exactly doing my best. He is not even a fully-fledged Jedi Knight, yet, so I expected to kill him with effortlessness."  
"Oh, I see."  
What kind of an answer was that to come out of the mouth of one of the most evil men in the Galaxy? Lare had expected him to slaughter him on the spot.   
And he almost did.  
Dredian put out his hand and began to squeeze Lare's windpipe using the Force. He clutched harder and harder and watched as Lare's eyes widened greatly and his face began to turn red.  
But then he let go. Despite the fact that he had been beaten by Nevin Karr, Darth Lare was still one of the best fighters serving Dredian and he was too important to be killed.  
"Now," Dredian said, while Lare held his burning neck and coughed repeatedly, "that was the worst mistake you will ever make in your whole life and from now on you will fight at your best, no matter what status your opponent is in.   
"Now, you will go and find that Jedi and you will slay him like a beast. Do you understand?"  
Lare coughed and then said in a faint voice, "Yes, my lord."  
"Good. Now go, but do not fail me or I will do exactly as I did just now, except I will not stop."   
Lare got onto his feet and walked out of the room, still rubbing his neck and Dredian flicked the switch that closed the door and he began to meditate again.  
  
Silvia walked down the corridors of the now-hidden Grand Star Archer with her back straight and her hands level with her waist. She had been on another flight mission only three hours before, in which she impressed her instructor, Faa Siirarouou so much that she moved her up to Flotilla 490. It wouldn't be long until she moved to one of the flotillas below 51, but she just didn't feel right without Nevin flying with her.   
She reached the opened door of Luke Skywalker's office and she stood up straight as he looked up at her from his desk.  
"Ah," he said and he put his pen down. "Good evening, Captain Arala. You may come in if you like."  
"Thank you, Major Skywalker," Silvia said as she walked in and stood closer to the desk. "May I have a word?"  
"Of course you may. What's the matter?"  
"Well, it's Nevin Karr and how he disappeared to save Jac Blay."  
"Oh yeah, of course. I was going to talk to you about that. You see, he sent a message, not long ago and said he was going to Thyferra to get to some Bacta - he'd managed to save Jac of course, although he obviously didn't manage to kill Darth Dredian in the process.  
"Anyway, one of our control officers told him about our identification change and different position, but he didn't have time to tell him where we were actually going or what our new I.D code was."  
"So he doesn't know where we are?"  
"No. So we've dispatched a dozen flotillas to go and search for him."  
"Well, with your permission, sir, can I leave the base and see if I could help? I know I probably won't find him in a Galaxy as big as this, but if he's still near Thyferra then I'm sure someone will find him, maybe me if I'm quick enough."  
"Well, if you insist, but don't be too long. You have training tomorrow and you don't want to miss the chance to move higher in the flotilla scale, do you?"  
"No, sir. Thank you, sir."  
"Goodbye."  
"Goodbye."  
She turned around and walked out of the room and as soon as she was out of Luke's sight she began a slow jog, rushing to her ship.  
  
Meanwhile, Jac sat at the co-pilot's seat next to Nevin, who was silently asleep. He looked at the stars ahead through the view-screen and then studied the strangely shaped clouds of Thyferra. He yawned slowly and started to fiddle with his hands in boredom. Nevin began to quietly snore, but as minutes went by it became a loud, turbulent snort.  
More and more minutes went by, but Jac himself could not get to sleep. He kept getting the urge to wake up Nevin, so that he could have a bit of company, but he had had no sleep for days, so he would probably go straight back to sleep again. They had been waiting in the still ship for nearly an hour and yet it seemed to Jac like they had been there for weeks. It seemed like no one would come along to take them back to the Star Archer.ever.  
But shortly after Nevin's unpleasant snoring had finished, Jac noticed something big and white in the distance. Whether it was manmade or natural, it was very big. He shook Nevin's shoulder violently and shouted.  
"Nevin! Wake up! There's something big nearby!"  
Nevin slowly opened his eyes and rubbed them as Jac kept shaking him about.  
"Okay, okay," he groaned. "What's the matter?"  
"Over there," Jac said as he pointed towards the white object. "What do you think it is?"  
Nevin squinted as he tried to get his eyes back to focus. He stared at the object for a while, until Jac said, "Shall I see if I can get a target or scan of it?"  
"Uh, yeah," Nevin replied and he shook his head, trying to wake himself up a little.  
Jac switched the scanning monitor on and set it on a forward scan. In seconds, it showed the words, 'Sith Star Destroyer: Consumer, 2000 Metres long, course Thyferra atmosphere.'  
"Uh oh," Nevin said. "They're obviously looking for us. They may have already targeted us, so we'd better get moving. Keep an eye on their statistics and status while I turn the ship around."  
"Okay. I'll set a course for Hyperspace."  
"Yeah - No."  
"No? What's the matter? We want to get away quickly, don't we?"  
"We won't be able to get away in time; well not in Hyperspace at least. They're too close and they'll target and tractor us before the computer will be able to set a safe course."  
"So what do we do?"   
Nevin shook his head and scratched his cheek.  
"I don't know."   
"Well if you don't think of something soon then I'll set a course, whether you like it or not."  
"Wait. Uh, we could try to get past them without giving them the chance to tractor us, I guess."  
"Oh yeah!" Jac said sarcastically. "I wish I'd thought of that! How exactly do you think we'll do it then, eh?"  
"Uh, by distracting them?"  
"With what?"  
"I'm not sure. If we had R2-S2 here then he'd probably be able to crack their computers and make them detect fake objects."  
"Well he's not here, so what do we do?"  
"Well, we won't be able to be as precise as what R2 would be, but we can still crack into their network and possibly make it go completely haywire, so that their scanning system will see thousands of things flying about. But that'll get them suspicious and they might call for other ships or use a different network of computers in a separate part of the ship."  
".Ah, who cares? Just do it anyway."  
"Okay, but I can't guarantee it'll work."  
Nevin crouched his head towards the monitor screen and began to type messages and codes on the keyboard, none of which Jac understood. He selected different areas and categories and then typed more strange commands, until a long, long list of codes, short words and even pictures appeared. He highlighted all of them and then randomly typed an eight-figured code, causing all of them to do and show various things. They were all, of course, the computers and scanning devices on board the star destroyer ahead of them and Nevin had just fouled them all up, causing confusion in the workers and Sith Lords in the ship.   
Jac pulled up on the steering stick and the Talon slowly moved up. It soared through space and was soon flying over the nose of the star destroyer. Jac still held the steering sick back, as they wanted to get as high a distance as possible, as the crew might still be able to see them through a window on the ship.  
They were almost halfway across the top of the ship when suddenly thousands of Sith A.D.B (Armoured-Double-Battery) Fighter Ships flew out from different openings in the hull. They were little black capsules with two massive, red laser cannons attached to either side of them. They each looked monstrously evil and they flew towards the Blue Talon like a huge swarm of bees.  
"Uh oh," Jac said. "Looks like they've spotted us. I suppose we're either gonna be blown to smithereens by those fighter ships or we'll be sucked in by a tractor beam, before being slashed to bloody pieces by hundreds of Sith Lords."  
"I think I may have shut down their tractor beams while I was jamming their scanning systems."  
"Oh right. So we're just gonna be blown to smithereens by the fighters instead?"  
"No way. Try a forward band along the hull and then pull up just before you touch the surface."  
Jac nodded quickly and flew the ship in a straight line diagonally towards the top of the hull. The Sith fighters followed them, steadily waiting for a chance to fire rapidly at them.   
"Right," Nevin said, "just as we pull up do a medium loop-the-loop. If those guys are as dumb as I hope they are, then they'll do exactly the same. That ought to get rid of a few of them."   
Jac pulled back on the steering stick just before the Blue Talon was about five seconds away from crashing into the top of the star destroyer. He kept the stick held back as they pulled up quickly and let the ship begin a loop-the-loop.  
Behind them, the Sith fighters began to do a loop-the-loop as well, which was a fatal thing to do while flying in a random cluster of ships. Many of them crashed into others as they flew back in a circle and others just lost control and smashed into the large hull.  
But just as Nevin and Jac's chances of escape were increasing, more Sith fighters flew out from apertures in the destroyer. This time there were well over ten thousand of them! And they were all fighting against one little ship: the Blue Talon.   
"Now what do we do?" Jac asked. "There's loads of 'em! It seems like there's an everlasting supply of them shooting out from the crevices in that ship."  
Nevin thought hard and closed his eyes. Jac tried to be patient while waiting for a new plan, but he was desperate to get out of the situation as soon as possible. He pushed forward on the steering stick and the Talon zoomed across the top of the ship, heading for the rear end where the main control tower and deflector shield generators were.   
The Sith fighters began to form a large barrier across the top of the destroyer, so that the Talon was completely surrounded. Anywhere it would go - up, forward, back, to the left or to the right - it would have to get past a few hundred ships blocking its way.  
"This isn't good," Nevin said as he stared at large black/orange blockade. "We're trapped."  
"No kidding," Jac replied. ".What do we do?"  
Nevin sighed and scratched the back of his head while he thought for a while. Jac kept waiting, holding tightly to the steering stick.  
".There's four proton torpedoes aboard the ship," Nevin said eventually. "The blockade is shaped like a massive dome stretching over the top of the destroyer, and there's no way we can get past those fighters or move them in anyway."  
"Yes?" Jac said. "And?"  
"Well we can't move the blockade, but we can move the destroyer. All we have to do is use a couple of the torpedoes on those big, round deflector shield generators and that'll leave them vulnerable to another two torpedoes, which we can use on the Command Tower. Easy as pie."  
"Oh yeah," Jac said sarcastically. "Easier said than done."  
He pulled up slightly and flew towards one of the massive deflector shield generators, which was a gigantic, grey, sphere supported by metal beams and pylons upon the shoulder of the Command Tower. He held his index finger fixed on the proton torpedo trigger and hesitated for a few seconds, before pressing it down.   
A cone-shaped, glowing torpedo propelled from beneath the cockpit of the Talon and flew directly towards the massive deflector shield generator. The vast orb blew into a million pieces and most of the crew aboard the mighty Consumer fell to their feet in the tremendous vibrations.  
"Okay," Nevin said looking around hard, "fly around the Command Tower and destroy the other one, but don't get too close to those fighters.  
Jac nodded and steered the Talon past the cloud of the obliterated shield generator and went slowly around the large Command Bridge towards the other one.   
Some slightly confused and curious Sith pilots drove their fighter ships towards the Talon, as the edge of the blockade was quite close to it. Nevin worriedly watched them as them flew closer towards his ship. There were about five of them and they all began to fire away, causing even more damage to the ship's shield.   
"Speed up a little," Nevin said. "Don't worry about them. Just target that deflector shield as soon as you can."  
"Sure," Jac replied, and he tried to gain some more speed. From behind the corner of the Command Tower, part of the side of the deflector shield came into view. Jac targeted it and immediately pulled the proton torpedo trigger again.  
Another torpedo charged out of the bottom of the Talon and curved around the side of the Command Tower, before finally destroying the second deflector shield. Nevin and Jac cheered, relieved, but they hadn't finished yet.  
"Okay," Nevin said as he exhaled a big puff of air, "fly over the Command Tower, so that we get back to where we were at first."  
Jac turned the Talon to the side, concerned as he looked at the monitor screen, which said, "Shield - 8%." He flew straight over the Command Tower, zigzagging, so that it was harder for the Sith fighters behind him to shoot at the ship.  
"Now do a quick half-loop-the-loop and try to take out a few of the fighters," Nevin said, "before firing the proton torpedoes at the Command Tower."  
"Right," Jac said as he kept his concentration. He pulled back, and as the Talon flew upside down he held down the fire button, randomly shooting at anything in the way. He shot down four of the fighters and the last one was destroyed in a fortunate collision with one of the others.   
Jac then turned the ship back to the right way up, so that he had a clear view of the Command Tower. Instead of targeting he just pulled at the proton torpedo trigger repeatedly and watched as four of them flew straight towards the massive tower. They each hit and made massive explosions, causing the rest of the destroyer to begin to malfunction and blow itself up from the inside. It lost power and began to move slowly down, exploding in various places.  
The blockade was now full of confused Sith Lords that didn't have the faintest idea whether they should stay put or attack the Talon. Seeing as they were under orders from the captain of the Consumer they decided to stay, as they hadn't received any new transmissions from him.   
"Great," Nevin said. "Now that there's a gap between the blockade and the destroyer we can escape. Go straight through the gap over there and I'll set a Hyperspace route to wherever, as long it's away from here."  
Nevin punched a few commands on the keypad while Jac drove the Talon through the gap between the blockade and the destroyer. Nevin finished the codes and pressed enter, before waiting patiently for the computer to make sure the course was safe.   
They were soon free from the blockade, but some fighters had decided to leave and chase after them. Jac kept the ship steady as he and Nevin waited for them to zoom into Hyperspace.  
The Talon shook as the fighters fired at it and its shield was almost perfectly destroyed. A couple of more hits and the Blue Talon, Nevin Karr and Jac Bosz would be no more.  
But suddenly a ship - an X-Wing by the looks of it - came flying from in front of the Talon. It was none other than Silvia Arala, coming to save the two Jedi from certain peril.   
"Silvia?" Nevin said on the comlink surprised. "Is that you?"  
"Bet you're glad to seem me, huh?" Silvia replied.  
"No kidding," Jac said. "Give us a hand, will ya?"   
"Sure. Wait a sec."  
She passed them in the X-Wing and fired at the Sith Star Fighters behind them. She destroyed nearly all of them when Nevin said, "We're about to go into Hyperspace, so you'd better target us, so that you can follow us."  
"Ah, but I was having fun!" Silvia chuckled, before targeting the Talon.  
Both the Talon and the X-Wing disappeared into Hyperspace and the Consumer exploded into a billion pieces.  
  
Chapter 18 - The Assault on Moilok   
  
Hours later, Sith Commander Dirbus Tiriraba marched down the corridors of the Main Tower of the Star Fortress. He kept his back upright and his fists clenched as he nervously approached the entrance to the throne room, in which Darth Dredian now sat.  
"Did Captain Frovesk succeed?" Dredian asked with his hands locked together. Commander Tiriraba shook a little in his tight, black uniform and said, "Uh, no, my lord. The Consumer and the majority of its crew were destroyed by Jac Bosz and," he gulped, ".Nevin Karr."  
Dredian's yellow eyes widened with anger and he stood up, before using the Force to throw Commander Tiriraba across the room. The royal guards stood still with their lightsabres by their side and prayed in their minds that he wouldn't do the same thing to one of them.   
Their prayers weren't answered. Dredian picked them all up using the Force and smashed them against the walls. Some of them tried to withstand it, but he was too powerful. He pulled his multi-pin out from his pockets and pressed a combination of buttons, before waiting for the screen to pop out with Darth Lare's face on it.   
"Lare," he said quickly, "this is your last chance! Kill Nevin Karr within a month! If you fail me then I will have you fed to a dozen rancors. Do you understand?"  
"But," Lare said shaking his head quickly, "I need more time than that, my lord. I will kill him, my lord. It'll just take some time."  
"Well that's exactly what we don't have. The longer we wait, the stronger he becomes. We both know that he will be capable of destroying me as soon as he is strong enough and we can't let that happen, can we."  
"My lord, you need not worry, for it will take longer than a month for him to build up his skills. More like a year."  
"This is no ordinary Jedi we're talking about, Lare. He started training to become a Jedi at the age of three. He is now twenty and yet he has almost become a Jedi Knight. For a normal person it would usually take until they are thirty before they manage to complete their training. It just goes to show that he has certainly inherited his parents skills."  
"My lord, he'll never defeat you. You are too powerful and it's your destiny to remain ruler of the Galaxy 'till the end of eternity. The future has already been set and you will rule."  
" Just cut the babble and get on with it, Darth Lare. You have a month. Now go."  
"But, my lord, I-"  
Dredian ended the transmission and put the multi-pin back into his pocket, before sighing in inner anger.  
  
Meanwhile, the Grand Star Archer was at its position in the Chief Star System in the Unknown Regions. It orbited the planet, Arifo, a small, brown planet with thousands of natural resources and materials. It was a perfect spot for the Republic to place their base above.   
Nevin, Silvia and Jac had eventually made their way back there and they had all been promoted to flotilla 20 in Rogue Squadron because of their escape and destruction of the Consumer. It was something that they were all very proud of and if they kept it up they would soon be in flotilla 1 with Anakin Solo and Wedge Antilles.  
Only a few weeks later they were assigned to a real mission. All members in any flotilla higher ranking than 31 were called to the main briefing room. There were almost too many people in there and everyone was squashed together like sardines.  
General Luke Skywalker stood in front of the hologram of a large, dark, blue/black planet with a rugged surface.  
"This is the planet, Moilok," he said as he pointed at it with a black gadget of some sort. "It is in the Harva System in the Deep Core of the Galaxy and our spies have reason to believe that the Sith have built an entire accumulation yard within the canyons to build and store their vehicles and machines. Your mission is to go there and destroy the base, which we think is split into several parts, each joined by the canyons. It is heavily guarded by gun turrets and drones, which is why so many of you are going on the mission.   
"You will not be travelling by X-Wings. Instead, you will be travelling in a new model called the E-Wing."  
Luke pressed a button on the device he was holding and the hologram of a violet ship appeared in place of the planet. It looked similar to the X-Wing, but it only had two wings instead of four. It was also broader than the X-Wing and looked at lot more complicated. It had lots of little guns and big guns poking out symmetrically from different sections on the ship and many hatches and openings for refuelling, repairing, etc. This was definitely a ship made for attack.   
General Let‚ Raxilion, a man with short, blonde hair and a rugged, scarred face stepped in front of the hologram as Luke politely moved out of the way.  
"The Zhanta 5DCO E-Wing," he said in a low, Dorvoolian accent, "is - as you can see - a very complex craft. It's sixteen metres in length, fifteen metres in width and seven metres in height, making it the biggest one-man fighter ship within the republic.   
"Designed by Professor Aniballa Grii, it holds four proton torpedoes, eight ion cannons, four rear nuclear blaster batteries, one chief grenade, two flame throwers, a class 2 hyperdrive, a quadruple engine chain, six interior deflector shield generators, seven fuel tanks, an astromech compartment, precocious power couplings and fuse generators, two long-range scanning devices, an up-to-date Galaxy holomap, strong security mechanisms and much more."  
General Raxilion nodded his head, stepped aside and Luke moved back in front of the hologram image.  
"Right," Luke said, "All of the E-Wings have been programmed with an automatic route to the location of the storage yards. As soon as you reach a point about five miles away from the first yard you'll have to pilot your ship by yourself. I will keep in contact and give you information on your mission, but you'll have to listen carefully, as Moilok is near the centre of the Galaxy, so it's hard to get a good signal.  
"Well that's about it, unless anyone has any questions they'd like to ask?"  
No one said anything.  
".Good, then get to your ships, men, and good luck."   
  
Nevin got into one of the massive E-Wings in one of the main docking bays and switched the engines on, before waiting for it to take off and the auto-pilot to begin. Silvia and Jac had also got into their own E-Wings as well, and patiently sat at their seats waiting for lift-off.   
Almost twenty minutes later a voice over the pilots' comlink said, "Okay, pilots. Your ships will soon take off and exit the Star Archer. The flight to Moilok will take approximately 3 minutes. Good Luck."  
The E-Wings began to take off row by row and hover out of the spaceport, before zooming into Hyperspace.   
Each of the spaceships belonging to Nevin, Silvia and Jac also went into Hyperspace and after about two minutes they slowed down and came out of it, very close to the gigantic planet of Moilok.   
"Pilots, this is General Luke Skywalker," said Luke to the pilots over the comlink, "In less than a minute you will be close to the surface of Moilok and then you will be in control. You will see a large, wide, blue, foggy canyon, which you must all enter. Inside will be gun turrets and turbo-lasers, so you must be prepared to fight.   
"Your discovery will be inevitable, as all of the drone-weaponry have their own radar that sends signals back to the main bases, so you will be approached by Sith Fighters and other enemies while going through the main canyon. At the end of this main canyon it will split into three narrower canyons. Flotillas 1 to 10 will go along the middle canyon, which will lead to the largest, most guarded base. Flotillas 11 to 20 will go along the left canyon, which will lead to a slightly smaller base and Flotillas 21 to 30 will go down the right tunnel, which passes a series of very small bases.   
"When Flotillas 11 to 20 and 21 to 30 have finished fully destroying their bases then they must pass through their own small canyons that go directly from the small bases to the main one, so that they can help Flotillas 1 to 10 destroy it.  
"Okay, pilots, that's me finished. Until the mission is finished then you're on your own. Good luck."  
The E-Wings were soon flying over the dark, blue, foggy canyons and plateau of Moilok and their autopilot had been switched off. The foggy clouds got thicker as they went further towards the equator and soon the main canyon was in sight. It was absolutely gigantic. The E-Wings looked like a swarm of flies hovering through a darker version of Beggar's Canyon.   
There were giant clouds of dust that sometimes blocked the pilots' views and within only a few seconds of flying through the canyon the first gun turrets were in view. Their fire-cylinders repeatedly turned 180 degrees from left to right and soon they targeted the first E-Wings and began to fire rapidly. The whole fleet shot at one of the turrets with their ion cannons and soon it was blasted to smithereens. They all targeted the next one and fired again as more E-Wings were shot down.   
It soon blew up and all the pilots believed they would be clear of gun turrets for quite some time, but instead, as they flew further through the canyon they noticed many, many more, all attached to the walls of the canyon. Some of them were more powerful than others and they fired huge missiles instead of rays. All of the large E-Wings had a hard job dodging these shots, as they were homing missiles and had enough power to destroy the ships with just one hit. The pilots kept firing though, targeting a new turret every time they destroyed a previous one.  
Finally they destroyed all of the turrets and moved on. At least thirty of the E-Wings had been blasted down, but there were still many, many more left and if they fought hard they still had a chance of destroying the three bases.   
They were soon at the point where the canyon split into three and again there were many gun turrets spread along the side of canyons. Even more E-Wings were shot down as they tried to destroy the turrets and many of the pilots decided just to ignore them and move through the canyons to their main target: the storage bases.   
One of these pilots was Nevin. He overlooked the turrets and went through his arranged canyon, which was the left one. About forty other pilots went with him, while many others just hovered in the air, fighting the turrets. He speeded up, as the canyon was fairly straight with only a few extended rocks in the way of his course. He wasn't sure whether Silvia or Jac were with him yet, but he was sure that the base he was approaching would easily be destroyed as long as they were around.  
He and some other pilots soon reached the end of the canyon and were now in a large, round, crater-like hole with the base in it. The base was a rather large grey building with a huge, low, flat, glass dome next to it with hundreds of vehicles and machinery underneath it.   
Nevin immediately fired one of his proton torpedoes at it and watched as it zoomed towards the dome, before destroying it, causing the glass to shatter and fall on top of the vehicles.   
It was not long until hundreds of Sith pilots climbed into their A.D.B Sith Fighter Ships and took off into the air. But Nevin ignored their presence and kept firing at the base, hoping that it would soon be completely destroyed.  
"Hey!" a woman's voice said over the comlink, "You weren't thinking of destroying the base without us, were you?"  
It was undoubtedly Silvia, and the word, 'us' must have meant that Jac was there too.  
"Boy, am I glad to see you two," Nevin replied. "I've been trying to annihilate this facility for ages, while the others are just floating there, waiting to fight off some enemies. You couldn't give us a hand, could ya?"  
"Sure," Jac said, "We'll be right there."  
As Nevin fired constantly at the main building, Silvia and Jac approached him in their E-Wings and helped him. They each kept on hovering swiftly around, so that they were hard targets for the Sith Lords while they fired at the base.   
But the A.D.B Sith Fighter Ships weren't the only attack that the Sith were using. Thousands of other vehicles were approaching the area.  
For instance, there were now M.A.Ts (Multiple-Armed-Transport) walking about the place. They were tiny, disc-shaped vehicles that had just one support leg under their main frame, which let them hop a certain distance to wherever they wanted to go. On top of their bodies were several different types of armoury, including laser cannons, blaster batteries and other arms.   
Also, there were F.A.F (Full-Armoured-Flight) Obliterators, large, black ships that were a lot smaller and faster than the E-Wings. They were assembled with the cockpit in a long, pointed, cone-shaped frame with a rounded engine at the back. Instead of wings, there were four gun emplacements placed in a compass-formation that had small repulsor-lift engines at their rear ends, giving the ship more control in flying over land, although for flying in space, the F.A.F Obliterator was not a reasonably good ship to pilot.  
These two vehicles were just a fraction of the Sith Dominion's share of combat technology at the base and many of them were defeating the E-Wings as easily as taking a stick from a baby Ewok. The reason being that the Republic was highly outnumbered; not surprising, considering that the whole of Moilok was used as an armoury and technology storage area for the Sith.  
But the Republic really did think that the E-Wings would be able to hold off the enemy, but unfortunately, this was not the case.   
  
Even Rogue Squadron was having trouble. Its most skilled pilots like Wedge Antilles, Anakin Solo and Dakan Dura could hardly even make scratches on the massive, square, pewter base. The E-Wing's weaponry was just not strong enough to get through the metal alloy.  
Wedge, who was the leader of Rogue Squadron, and had been so for as long as it had been existent, concentrated on the roof as he flew in between the swarms of F.A.F ships and dropped several bombs into the chimney funnel.  
He stayed alert as he waited for a reaction and as he flew away from the massive building a small corner of it shattered into pieces, but with all the bombs that he'd dropped, it looked a dissapointing result.  
"Kierak, alert the base," he said over his comlink. "Tell them we need more fighters, and quickly."  
"Yes sir," replied Gon Kierak as he moved away from the domain, giving himself time to safely report to the Star Archer without being shot down by the Sith.  
  
Meanwhile, Nevin and the other Flotillas were almost as worse off as it was possible to be. E-Wings were crashing down to the ground at every second, while the Sith vehicles were as high in total as they ever were. In fact, while the bases were still operational, more and more enemy ships entered the battle and as they did so, more and more E-Wings were being destroyed.   
Most of the lowest flotillas had been completely wiped out and until more Republic ships came along, the enemy would manage to destroy every last one of the flotillas, including the Rogue Squadron.   
Nevin was still flying close to the base and although he had being firing at it for quite some time he had realised long ago that he was doing no damage.   
He flew around the side of it, still firing, until he made it to the back, where he thought he'd seen a few of the enemies coming from. There was indeed a hatchway, but it wasn't being used as much as the front exits.   
"Maybe," he thought aloud, "just maybe I can get through that opening and set my chief grenade in the centre of the building. That can't possibly fail."   
The chief grenade was of course the most powerful weapon on the E-Wing. There was only one on each ship and it gave such a powerful detonation that the vibrations alone could shatter the whole of the building.  
Nevin hovered in front of the opening, monitoring the inside for any enemies and then entered. He flew through the long tunnel as fast as he could, as it had no turnings or space, so he would have no room to move if a ship was flying towards him.  
He soon came to the end of it and was lead into a large vehicle docking bay where Sith Lords were checking their ships for impairment and damage. They looked up as Nevin's ship approached them quickly and their eyebrows raised as he span around to face back at the tunnel, dropped a large, white object onto the floor and zoomed back through the tunnel in a flash.  
As Nevin flew rapidly through the blue tunnel he spoke over his comlink to all of the other ships in the area.  
"Get away from the base!" he said. "I repeat! Get away from the base! It's gonna blow!"  
He swooped up at the end of the tunnel and his E-Wing span around as the explosion blasted him high into the air.  
"Right," he said, as though he was the leader of the flotillas flying with him, "let's get to the main base and help the other flotillas out."  
He and the other remaining pilots flew their E-Wings into a small canyon by the side of the exploding building and saw many gun turrets and missile launchers within it.  
"Speed up," Nevin said. "There's not enough of us to destroy the towers, so we'll just have to dodge their fire and make it to the main base as quickly as possible."  
No one said anything, but it was clear that everyone agreed with Nevin, as they all followed him quickly through the trench without firing at the enemy turrets. They all tried to dodge the firing, especially the missiles, but many of them were blown to smithereens as they flew through the narrow, dark, blue canyon.  
They eventually made it out of the canyon and were in a large area of foggy land, in which there was the gigantic storage base in the centre. Hundreds of E-Wings were flying around, shooting at it with their ion cannons, but by the looks of things, they weren't causing much damage.   
"Flotillas," Wedge said to Nevin's pilots, "Did you destroy your base?"  
"Yes we did, Commander Antilles," Nevin answered. "But at least three quarters of our pilots were killed."  
"How did you destroy the base?" Anakin Solo asked as he flew around the base in his ship.  
"I entered it through an exit hatch in the back and dropped a chief grenade in the middle of it."  
"Well I doubt we can do that here," Wedge said. "There's only three hatches on this base and there's enemy ships flying out of them at every second."   
"So what can we do?" Nevin asked, as he stared at the huge, blue-grey building.  
"I have no idea," Wedge replied. "We'll just have to keep shooting at it and hope for the best."   
"That'll take too long," Anakin said. "There has to be another weakness somewhere."  
"Lieutenant Solo is right," Silvia said. "The building is too strong for our ion cannons to destroy it and we'll loose too many men if we hang around too long."  
"What about the entrance doors?" Nevin said.  
"What about them?" Anakin asked, not sure what Nevin's idea was.  
"Perhaps we can enter through the doors at the bottom," Nevin replied, referring to the entrance doors at the front of the building. "They're big enough for even an E-Wing to fit through. And the interior's probably large too, leading straight to where all the vehicles are stored, in a large warehouse-like room."  
"Maybe," Wedge said, "but then maybe not. What if there's just some sort of reception or waiting room in there?"  
"Well if there was then the doors wouldn't be so big, would they?" Nevin replied smugly. "Please, Commander Antilles, let me go in there I won't let you down."  
Wedge hesitated for a while and there was silence for quite some time while the pilots flew around the base.  
".I think you've made a hero of yourself enough for one mission, Lieutenant Karr," Wedge finally said. "How about you, Lieutenant Bosz? You heard what Karr said. Are you up for it?"   
"Uh," Jac said, "well I'm not really that good with all this planting bombs stuff. I think I'd be more help if I were to assist in fighting off the enemies."  
"Fair enough," Wedge said. "Lieutenant Arala?"  
"Okay, Commander Antilles, sir," Silvia replied with no hesitation, displaying her recklessness. "I'll do my best."  
"Good luck," Wedge said. "We'll cover you."  
So Silvia steered her E-Wing down towards the large entrance doors of the massive base and fired at them with the ship's important, powerful spark cannon. The blue, metal doors were pushed inwards by the power of the gunfire and Silvia's E-Wing soon flew through the space it left behind.   
The interior was - as everyone had hoped - just a massive depot-like room with ships and vehicles galore. Silvia had a hard job flying towards the middle of the room at the speed she was going, as she had to dodge large balconies and posts protruding from the walls and ceiling.  
Meanwhile the other Republic Pilots did their best to fight off the Sith fighters as they flew around the base, waiting for Silvia to fly out and signal that the chief grenade had been planted.   
Nevin was hot on the tail of an A.D.B Sith Star Fighter and he fired at it rapidly, trying not to go too fast or too slow. He fired only when it was in range of his computer-scope, so that precious ammo wouldn't be wasted. But the fighter ship was fast and highly manoeuvrable, just like one of the old TIE Interceptors used by the Empire.  
Silvia's E-Wing had been almost completely destroyed, with pieces of shattered metal and wiring hanging or protruding from it and large, black burn-marks on what remained of the violet, alloy hull. There was little chance that she would get out alive.  
But still, she kept her concentration on the mission in hand rather than her survival contingency. She was at the centre of the large building, but it was difficult to stay still without being hit by enemy fire.   
There were A.D.B ships, various vehicles and even gun turrets inside the building that were firing at her from all directions. There were drone guns on the ceiling and Sith Soldiers standing on balconies firing with chain guns and blasters.  
Silvia eventually got close to an area on the floor which would be suitable for installation of the chief grenade and pressed a big blue button the control monitor, causing the large, white, glowing grenade to fall from a hatch on the bottom of the E-Wing onto the floor.   
As Silvia quickly pushed forward on the steering-stick to make an escape from the now-critically-hazardous building she spoke into her comlink.  
"Flotillas," she said, "move away from the building. It's gonna blow. I repeat: move away from the building."   
Nevin, who had defeated his opponent, heard the message clearly, but he was reluctant to do as it said. He decided to stay close, just so he could make sure Silvia would make it out of the building alive.  
Soon her E-Wing came zooming out of the entrance doors at a high speed. She was followed by three A.D.B Sith Fighter Ships and an S.U.F (Single-Unit-Fire) Fighter, which was a small, oval ship with short wings and a single gun emplacement upon the roof of its hull.  
Nevin pursued the four enemy ships in a bid to save Silvia from possible destruction. The small S.U.F Fighter was surprisingly easy to destroy, but the A.D.B Fighters were not quite so effortless.   
"Nevin?" Silvia said as Nevin fired at the Fighters firing at her. "Nevin, you ought to get out of here. Just save yourself and I'll deal with these myself."  
"I'm not leaving until I know you're safe," Nevin replied as he successfully shot down one of the A.D.B Fighters, leaving only two left. "Now just hold on and I'll get rid of them for you."  
"No, Nevin!" Silvia replied. "You're too close to the base! You'll be killed! Just go with the others!"   
Nevin ignored her reply and kept his eyes on the enemies, firing whenever they were in range. But suddenly, a blast from one of the Fighter's ion cannons fired at Silvia's E-Wing, causing it to malfunction and plummet to the ground.  
"You bastards!" Nevin shouted with ire as Silvia's E-Wing crashed onto the ground and exploded into pieces. "You Sith scum!"  
Nevin fired rapidly and speeded up to get closer towards the A.D.B Fighters. But his chances of payback suddenly disappeared as the huge base exploded in pieces. The discharge of it caused his E-Wing to rock and tilt quickly and Nevin blacked out, dropping his head to the monitor screen.  
  
Rogue Squadron and the rest of the surviving Republic pilots landed in the main docking bay of the Star Archer and they were greeted by Luke Skywalker, who proposed a celebration party for the great victory of the battle.  
But Jac was one of the many few who wasn't celebrating. He hadn't seen Nevin or Silvia and his concern continuously grew while he waited at the docking bay.  
But time went past and Jac decided to visit an info-desk to see if Nevin or Silvia had returned in their ships. He first of all typed in Silvia and the screen went blank for a few seconds and then came up with details of her flight experience. Below all the information was the dreaded word: deceased.   
Jac's heart felt as though it had sank to his stomach and he wasn't sure he even wanted to type Nevin's name in, for fear of the same results. But he soon forced himself to type the letters in and press the enter button. He looked away from the screen, hesitant to look at the conclusion. He turned his head slowly and saw, just out of the corner of his eye, the word: deceased.  
"Shit!" he thought, almost aloud. "This can't be happening! They can't have died! They're too good to die!"  
He slammed his fist on the desk and walked away, down a corridor leading to the main deck. The celebrations had already began and people were talking, drinking and eating while sitting down at tables.  
Jac walked up quickly to Luke, who was speaking to one of the pilots.  
"Sorry to interrupt you, General Skywalker," he said as he stood at attention. "May I have a quick word with you?"  
"Certainly, sir," Luke said while holding a glass of red wine. "Who may you be and what's troubling you?"  
"I am Lieutenant Jac Bosz, sir. I'm troubled by the apparent deaths of two of my colleagues. I was wondering if the computer system is not entirely accurate."  
"Well the computer just works out what ships have been destroyed or not and practically presumes that the pilots were killed."  
"That's exactly what I thought. So there's a chance that at least one of them might still be alive?"  
"Lieutenant Bosz, I'm sorry about your friends, but they are most likely dead. There are lots of people who ask the same questions as you have and it always turns out that their friends were killed."  
"Sir, but they may still be alive, right?"  
"As I said, it's very unlikely. The E-Wings are very large spacecraft and a collision is usually fatal to the people aboard. Even if your friends did survive then they would be on Sith territory and it would be hard to escape without being seen."  
"Well, sir, despite your suggestions and prompts, I would like to go back to Moilok.with your permission of course."  
Luke sighed and shook his head slowly.  
"Sorry, Lieutenant Bosz," he said. "It's far too dangerous to go there, so I can't let you go back as a New Republic citizen. In other words, you can't use one of our ships and you can't take your ID. If you have your own ship and you're willing to put your ID aside then you may leave, but if not, then you cannot go."  
"I don't have a ship."  
"Well you can't go there. I'm sorry."  
"Damn," Jac said as he turned from Luke and walked away frustrated. If he couldn't go to Moilok and help Nevin and Silvia then the only chance of them meeting again was if they made their way back to the Star Archer themselves. But that would not be as easy when stranded on a dark, dangerous planet owned by the Sith.  
  
Chapter 19 - Alone with Silvia  
  
Nevin climbed out of his busted E-Wing and hung onto the railing for a while before jumping to the ground and running as fast as he could as it exploded into smithereens. He dropped to the ground from the force of the explosion and then got up again, looking around at his location. He was still in the large crater-like area of land where the base was, but the ground was a lot bumpier than it looked from the air, so he couldn't see the whole stretch of land.   
He decided to search the area, looking for downed Republic pilots. As for the enemies, there couldn't have been many about, as most of them were killed in the destruction of the main base.   
He walked and he walked, searching for any survivors in the E-Wings that hadn't exploded as they crashed to the ground, just like his had. But all he found were corpses or remains of pilot uniforms and bloody intestines; not the nicest of all sights.  
But as he wandered towards another ship he almost didn't notice a scrunched up, violet parachute lying on the blue, sandy ground. He immediately walked towards it without any hesitation, as he knew that the parachute was of the New Republic E-Wing.  
Once he reached it he slowly lifted up one corner of it. He gradually lifted up more and more until a small, delicate hand endowed with womanly qualities was revealed. As he lifted up more he knew immediately that it was Silvia, and by the looks of things she was still alive. She had obviously ejected from her seat before her ship went down.   
"Silvia," he said softly. "It's me, Nevin."  
She opened her eyes and rubbed her head, before looking at her surroundings. She began to shiver as a gust of cold, icy air blew across the land.  
"Don't tell me we're still on Moilok?" she asked as she got to her feet. "I've had enough of all this blue fog and dusty air."  
"Well we're gonna have to put up with it until we find a ship we can use to get out of here," Nevin said. "And that could take a long, long time, as all of the E-Wings are either large, black lumps of metal or they're just malfunctioned. As for enemy ships, it looks like they were all destroyed when the base was."  
"So you're saying we're stuck here?" Silvia asked with a saddened expression on her face.  
"Looks like it."  
Silvia sighed. "Well I don't think we should stay here then," she said as she looked around. "There's bound to be enemy ships coming along in a moment. Perhaps if we hide in a cave or crevice somewhere near the canyons we could ambush any Sith Lords and steal their ship."  
"Hmm," Nevin said as he scratched his chin. "I don't know. What if this place is dangerous? There might be strange creatures hiding about near the edge of the crater or maybe traps set by the Sith."  
"Well that's a chance we'll have to take, 'cause we can't stay here all day."   
"Okay," Nevin sighed and agreed. "If you insist."  
They began to walk towards the canyon that they had arrived in, coughing at the thick, blue-black gases that settled on the ground.   
  
Meanwhile, in the Star Fortress, Darth Dredian sat at his seat, playing some sort of board-game with a Crunx, which was a tiny, one-armed, one-legged creature with a round, pink body with no neck attaching the head. It was Darth Dredian's turn to move and he was determined to win the match.   
Despite the evil Sith Lord's ways, the Crunx was not afraid to try its best to win. At the moment they were practically drawing, but Dredian had the advantage of one more 'toan,' one of the more powerful pieces on the board.   
Just then the doors to the room in which they were playing opened up without so much as a knock and Darth Lare walked in quickly, bowing his head to Dredian as he stood straight.  
"Sorry to disturb you, my lord," he said quickly, "but there's been an attack on Moilok, one of our storage planets in the Deep Core Region by the New Republic and as far as I know, Nevin Karr was there along with Silvia Arala and Jac Bosz."  
Dredian looked up at Lare, as if he was trying to remember something and then looked at one of his wristwatches.  
"Hmm," he said as his cheeks rose. "It appears your time is almost up, Darth Lare."  
"What do you mean, my lord?"  
"I mean that about three weeks ago I told you that you only a month in which to kill Nevin Karr."  
Lare frowned as he cast his mind back and then gave a guilty look and scratched his forehead nervously.  
"Oh yes," he said as he trembled with fear as he sensed Darth Dredian's evil thinking going on inside his brain. "I.uh.forgot about that.my l-l-lord."  
"Did you?" Dredian said. "Really? Even though you'll be fed to Rancors if you don't succeed? I certainly wouldn't forget a thing like that.  
"Anyway, what's happened at this Moilok place then?"  
"Uh, well the New Republic destroyed the whole base and retreated back to their own star-base, but a couple of our pilots believe that they shoot down Nevin Karr and Silvia Arala' s ships."  
"They are dead?"  
"Unfortunately not, my lord. Arala escaped in a parachute and Karr managed to jump out of his ship."  
"Well now is most likely your last chance, Darth Lare. Kill Nevin Karr or you will be killed. I don't care how you do it. Just do it. Do I make myself quite clear?"  
Lare lifted his head slowly and replied, "Yes, my lord."  
"Good. Now leave me alone."  
  
Nevin and Silvia made it to the edge of the crater which was basically a large, blue-black cliff with strange, cloudy gases coming out from cavities on it, as though there was some sort of volcano on the other side. But whatever these gases were or why they were there, they led Nevin and Silvia to believe that it would be dangerous to get too close or to climb the cliff.  
Instead, they decided to just follow the cliff along until they reached the canyon they were hoping to find, which was now hidden in the misty, blue fog that began only about half a mile in front of them.  
"Do you think we'll be able to ambush the Sith Lords?" Silvia asked curiously as they walked over a slippery mound.  
"I don't know," Nevin said as he shrugged. "It was your idea in the first place to go and hide in the canyon."  
"Exactly, so I'm asking for your opinion."  
"It depends how many Sith we have to fight. You have got your lightsabre, haven't you?"  
"I sure have," Silvia replied as she pulled it out from her uniform pocket, threw it in the air and caught it again. "Have you?"  
"Yes. But we're a long distance from the base. If we're gonna attack any Sith then we should make sure they're fairly close to the canyon, so that we can ambush them quickly without them noticing us."  
"But it could be ages until any of them come searching near there."  
"Well what do you suggest we do then?"  
".Wait?"  
"Exactly. It's not like we're gonna starve or anything. A little bit of patience won't hurt anyone."  
But both Jedi thought completely the opposite while they were waiting at the end of the canyon. It was pouring with very heavy rain and dusk was quickly approaching as Nevin and Silvia sat down under a protruding ledge. They both sat curled up with their arms around their knees, shivering as cold winds blasted through the canyon.  
Silvia was shivering very considerably though, and Nevin felt concerned that she wouldn't make it through the night. He pulled off his pilot-jacket and wrapped her up in it, despite her worry over his own condition.  
"Thanks," she said as she lent up, trying to keep her eyes open. ".Are you sure you'll be alright?"  
"I'll be fine," Nevin replied and he brought his lightsabre out from his pocket, before activating it. He held it vertically in front of him and Silvia. "That might keep us a little warmer."  
"Yeah," Silvia said, "Thanks."  
The two of them sat for longer and Nevin tried to persuade Silvia to go to sleep, so that he could just keep a look out for any ships, but it was far too cold to sleep. Silvia just sat quietly close to him, trying to keep warm.  
".Nevin," she said softly, clouds coming from her mouth.  
"Yeah?"  
"Thanks for helping me out back there in the battle. If it wasn't for you I would have been shot down."  
"Don't mention it. I'm a Jedi. A Jedi is meant to protect, right?"  
"But you shouldn't have risked your life to save me, Nevin. You're too important. If you get killed then no one will ever defeat the Sith and the Galaxy will be controlled by evil."  
"But you've saved me lots of times, Silvia," Nevin said as he faced her. "Despite my importance, I had to owe it back to you."  
"But why?" asked Silvia as their faces got closer together.  
"Because the New Republic needs you. I need you."  
Silvia stared at his face.  
"But." she quietly said. "Why do you need me?"  
"Because.Because, I don't want to go on without you. I'm going to make sure that you come along on every step of this journey."  
"But this is about you and your powers."  
"I don't care about my powers. Without you those powers don't even exist."  
"Why not?"  
"Because.I.I love you.   
Nevin kissed Silvia's cold lips softly and brought his face back slightly, looking into her eyes. She held the back of his head and pulled him back towards her. They kissed repeatedly while laying down hugging each other tightly. Nevin knew he was in love and judging by Silvia's co-operation, she must have felt exactly the same way too.  
  
Nevin awoke. It was a humid morning with flies buzzing around his head. He looked beside him and Silvia was still asleep. She looked beautiful and he didn't want to awake her from her peacefulness. But it seemed he had no choice as he noticed a group of ships about a quarter of a mile away on the ground.   
"Silvia!" he said and her eyes opened quickly. She lifted her head. "There's a group of ships nearby. I think they might belong to the Sith."  
Silvia sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"  
"I don't know, but I think this might be our chance to escape. Get up, quick."  
Silvia got to her feet and squinted as she looked at the ships.  
"What should we do?" she asked Nevin.  
"Let's approach them quickly and we'll see if we can steal a ship to escape in."  
They both jogged towards the ships side-by-side and soon noticed that there were tents next to them. Someone had obviously set up a camp of some sort and fortunately for Nevin and Silvia there were no one wandering around near the ships. Either everyone was in the tents or they had left the camp while going on a mission of some sort. But as long as it stayed that way, Nevin and Silvia should have been able to steal a ship with no trouble.  
They soon reached the camp and hid behind a small A.D.B Sith Fighter Ship. Obviously, Sith Lords had arrived and by the sound of the talking from inside one of the larger tents they were still here at the camp.  
Nevin climbed up the side of the A.D.B ship and opened the cockpit entrance. He looked inside and tried to switch the vehicle on. However, it seemed it had been locked. Nevin jumped back down and landed on the ground, creating a cloud of dust.  
"Looks like this could be tricky," Nevin said as he looked at the other ships surrounding the camp.  
"Why," asked Silvia. "What's the matter?"  
"It's locked. And if they can be bothered to lock a crappy little fighter like that then they're bound to have locked all of the other more important ships too."  
"So we're gonna have to find a keycard for one of the ships?" Silvia asked.  
"Yeah. There has to be at least one key in a tent with no Sith Lord in it. Let's split up. You start with the tents on the right side of the camp, while I'll go on the left."  
So they both split up and walked toward a tent each.   
Silvia listened carefully for any talking or breathing coming from inside the small, orange tent that she was crouching beside. She heard nothing. She walked slowly around to where the zip was and pulled on it. It didn't move, so she tugged harder. It was stuck and so she kept pulling harder and harder.  
"Damn thing," she said and she activated her lightsabre before easily ripping through the fabric in the tent. Inside were a green sleeping bag and a rucksack. Silvia looked under the sleeping back and then inside the rucksack. All she found were a few pieces of food, some cutlery and a comlink, so she left the tent and walked slowly to the next nearest one.  
Meanwhile, Nevin had managed to get inside a slightly larger tent with four sleeping bags, four rucksacks and a black cloak inside. He was searching through one of the rucksacks, when suddenly he heard some footsteps on the dusty ground outside. He looked out of the tent with just one eye and saw a Sith Lord approaching the tent that Silvia was in. The Sith Lord activated his lightsabre and listened, sensing that someone was in the tent. Nevin wondered if Silvia knew what was going on or if she was just rummaging through some stuff in the tent.   
The Sith Lord began to walk closer towards the tent with his sabre held above his head. Nevin was about to speak to Silvia using his mind, but he realised that all of the Sith Lords in the camp would sense his presence. Instead he climbed out of the tent and activated his own lightsabre, before running quickly running towards the Sith Lord.  
They began to clash their lightsabres together quickly and sweat dripped from their foreheads. The Sith Lords from inside the larger tent had heard the commotion and ran out with their sabres activated.  
As Nevin kept concentration on his opponent a lightsabre beam came straight out of the Sith Lord's stomach. As he fell to the ground Nevin saw that Silvia had stabbed the man from behind.  
"I've found a keycard," she said and she held a little white piece of plastic up. She passed it to Nevin quickly and he studied it. It read: 'CRLN-COERCE6902' above a long barcode.   
Nevin looked around and saw a large Corellian Direction Ship only about twenty metres away. It was certainly the ship that the keycard unlocked.  
"Come on," he said to Silvia. "Follow me."  
They ran as quickly as they could towards the large, white ship, which was about the same size as an E-Wing. The Sith Lords - of which there were about thirty - ran after them with their lightsabres activated.   
When Nevin and Silvia reached the Direction Ship Nevin gave Silvia a boost up to the cockpit hatch and she climbed in. However, Nevin had no time to climb in himself. Three of the Sith Lords reached him and he had to use all of his powers to defend himself from the powerful lightsabre blows.  
"Take off!" he shouted to Silvia as he almost tripped up on a rock. The ship began to hover up and then move backwards, giving Nevin some more space to fight off the Sith Lords. He blocked several blows at the same time and then managed to strike down one of them. But then he realised that the other Sith Lords had almost reached him. He turned around and began to run as fast as he could. He looked up and noticed the large Director Ship above him, flying along at the same speed as him.   
It began to get lower and lower, until he could almost touch it. He jumped up and grabbed onto a gap in the hull, before pulling himself onto the wing. He stood up just a bit, staying low, so that he could still hold onto the ship.   
Suddenly, as he had almost reached the entrance hatch he realised that one of the Sith Lords had managed to climb on as well. The tall man in a black robe had climbed on at the back of the ship and had his lightsabre activated.   
He soon began to strike the engines with it, trying to disable the ship. Nevin quickly activated his own sabre and ran towards him, getting ready to fight. They both swiftly smashed together with all their might, but the Sith Lord was extremely strong and managed to push Nevin to the roof of the ship with just one blow. Nevin got back up quickly and began to fight again with his sabre tightly in his hands. He struggled to block the Sith Lord's strong attacks and was constantly falling over. The evil man began to laugh heavily, knowing that he was the more powerful of the two of them. He lifted his lightsabre high above his head, getting ready to kill Nevin, when suddenly a large hatch on the ship opened up behind him and a huge cannon quickly rose out of it. He looked round at and gulped, realising his certain doom. The cannon fired a huge missile that struck right through his back and carried him off of the ship and into the air, before exploding into a million pieces.  
Nevin opened the hatch and climbed down the ladder leading into the cockpit of the ship. He wiped his head of sweat and sat down in the co-pilot's seat next to Silvia.  
"Thanks," he said as he huffed and puffed. "If it wasn't for you then I'd be history by now."  
"It was nothing. Just be a bit more careful next time."  
"Sure."  
As they flew along in the Director Ship, little did they know that they were being followed. Darth Lare was right behind them in the Fate Raider, hoping that he would manage to find the location of the Grand Star Archer.  
  
Chapter 20 - Under Attack  
  
The Director Ship came out of Hyperspace right in front of the Grand Star Archer and soon flew towards the docking bay.  
"This is the New Republic Grand Star Archer," said a voice over the ship's comlink. "We're just gonna check your identification." There was a short pause. ".Okay, Mr. Karr and Miss Arala, you have permission to come aboard."  
Silvia landed the ship in the main docking bay and she and Nevin climbed out.  
  
Meanwhile, the Fate Raider also came out of Hyperspace in front of the Star Archer. Darth Lare had targeted the Director Ship and set the same Hyperspace route, so he had finally managed to find the location of the Star Archer.  
He tapped a few buttons beneath the main monitor screen. Soon the face of Darth Dredian appeared with a bored expression on his face.  
"I hope you finally have some good news for me, Darth Lare," he said. "Something like the death of Nevin Karr would be rather satisfying."   
"Well actually, my lord, it's not quite as good as that," replied Darth Lare. "But still, it could lead to the death of Karr."  
"Well what is it then?"  
"I have found the location of the New Republic base. It is orbiting the planet of Arifo."  
"Excellent. This might finally be our chance to destroy the New Republic. Remain at the base, but make sure no one discovers you. I am going to send a quarter of our A.F.I Fighters and twenty Star Destroyers to destroy the base, so be prepared for battle."  
"Yes, my lord."  
  
"Nevin! Silvia!" Jac shouted as he saw the two Jedi outside their rooms in one of the corridors of the Star Archer. "I knew you hadn't died!"  
"Of course not, buddy," Nevin said as he patted Jac on the back. "We had a hard time getting back though."  
"What did you do?"  
"We escaped in a Sith Ship," Silvia answered. "So what's been happening while we've been away?"  
"Nothing much. Wedge Antilles has been made a General and I've been assigned to Rogue Squadron. There's no doubt that you two will be too."  
"Well we've gotta nap," Nevin said as he stretched his arms out. "We didn't get much sleep last night."  
"Okay," Jac said. "I'll see you later."  
  
Later on, in the main control tower of the Star Archer, Luke had been summoned to take a look at something. As he walked in, everyone was standing at the viewscreen, looking at something out in space.  
"What's wrong?" Luke asked. "Is there a problem?"  
The leading control officer looked around.  
"There are several Sith Star Destroyers heading our way," he said, "along with thousands of fighter ships."  
"We're under attack?" Luke asked as he scratched his beard.  
"It looks that way, sir."  
"How did they find our location?"  
"We have no idea, sir, but it's possible that they may have repeated the Hyperspace route of one of our pilots. What should we do?"  
"Alert all the pilots and order them to their ships. Energise the entire Star Archer's main weaponry and get Wedge Antilles up here. I'm going to inform the presidents of the assault."  
"Yes, sir."  
  
A loud alarm went off within the corridors, waking up all of the pilots and alerting them to get to their ships.  
"Nevin got out of his bed and quickly put his pilot uniform on. He rushed out of the door and Silvia was there.  
"Is it an attack?" she asked as she looked at the other pilots rushing down the corridors.  
"Must be," replied Nevin. "Come on. Let's get to our ships."  
They soon reached the docking bay, where hundreds of pilots rushed into their own ships. Nevin got into the Blue Talon along with R2-S2, while Silvia got into an X-Wing. They both took off and flew out of the base.  
It wasn't long until the Sith ships had reached the base and a star destroyer began to fire at it, signalling the beginning of the battle. The New Republic's ships were mainly comprised of X-Wings and E-Wings, while the Sith just used A.F.I (Active-Fire-Installation) Star Fighters, which were long, yellow, pointed ships with two large auto-cannons on the tips of their wings.   
The battle was a breathtaking site. Each side was a massive swarm of ships, firing at each other rapidly and moving around faster than the eye could see. It was hard to tell who was winning, as the ships were all so mixed together that it was hard to judge which side had the most ships.   
As the two massive fleets of fighters continued to combat, the twenty star destroyers were already firing rapidly at the Grand Star Archer. However, not only did the Star Archer have strong shields, but it also had a lot of weaponry. Huge cannons and long laser units extended from its hull and fired back at the Star Destroyers, causing severe damage. Just five minutes into the battle it managed to blast away ten of them, leaving just another ten left. There was no doubt whatsoever that the Star Destroyers would fail to destroy the base.  
Nevin flew straight towards a large group of A.F.I Fighters in the Blue Talon and began to fire at them expeditiously.  
"Intensify forward shield generators," he said to R2-S2 as he held his finger down on the fire trigger. He shot down several of the ships and then turned to the side as the others began to fire at him. He done a 180 degree turn and zoomed away from them, entering a huge cloud of thousands of other ships and began to fire at them too, trying his best not to accidentally shoot any of his own comrades.   
Meanwhile, Wedge Antilles stood at the Control Tower of the Star Archer and watched the battle through the viewscreen.  
"Boy," he said with his hands behind his back, "I wish I could be out there right now. I'd show those guys who's boss." He watched a huge, orange bolt come from the side of the Star Archer and strike the Control Bridge of one of the star destroyers. The destroyer began to give off sparks of blue electricity and then it exploded in several places. There were only three more left.  
"We've almost destroyed every single last one of them, General Antilles," said Commander Dreyfan, a leading officer. "Just three more and we're safe. After all, it's not like those fighters can destroy the base."  
"Maybe not," Wedge replied, "but I'm getting the feeling that that might not be all the Sith are gonna throw at us."  
"What do you mean, sir?"  
"I mean they're gonna send reinforcements."  
"You may be right, sir," said a commander sitting at a scanning computer. "There's three large ships approaching us."  
"How large?" Wedge asked.  
The man paused. "Nearly thirteen kilometres long, sir."  
"They must be Super Star Destroyers," said Commander Dreyfan. "Will we be able to take them down?"  
"I don't know," Wedge answered. "But they'll do a lot of damage to us if we don't do something quick."  
"Well what do you suggest we do, sir?" asked Dreyfan, who began to nervously tremble with panic.  
"Well we can't jump to Hyperspace, because we're surrounded by those damn fighters."  
"Can't we order our pilots to try and drive them round to one side?"  
"No, that'll take far too long and prove extremely difficult. We'd better get someone to go and destroy the deflector shields on the destroyers. That should at least make them vulnerable to our attacks, no matter how big they are."  
"Who should we ask to do it?"  
"Choose three pilots: one for each destroyer. Look up all of the details of the pilots in Rogue Squadron and select the best three. Then start charging up the Drate Cannon. Let it fire when the deflector shields have been shut down."  
"Yes, sir."  
  
As Nevin flew through the horde of A.F.I Fighters he spotted a rather familiar ship. It was large and white with vertical, spiky wings. It was the Fate Raider  
"Darth Lare, eh?" Nevin said to himself quietly. "This should be fun."  
He followed the Fate Raider as it flew up and down, in between the other fighters. He fired at it with his homing torpedoes and got a good couple of shots on its engine.  
"Nevin Karr I presume?" said the voice of Darth Lare over the comlink.   
"That's right," Nevin replied.  
"I've been looking for you. Prepare to die."  
"You won't kill me in a ship like that. You should be careful if you don't want to die."  
"What makes you think you can kill me? I'll kill you in seconds. Just wait."  
"No thanks." Nevin fired one of the Blue Talon's proton torpedoes straight at the Fate Raider, blowing it to smithereens, killing Darth Lare in a quick, but satisfying way.  
"Nevin Karr," said another voice on the comlink, "are you there?"  
"Yes, I'm here," replied Nevin. "What's wrong?"  
"This is Commander Dreyfan. I have a little job for you."  
"Yes?"  
"I'd like you to head towards one of the Super Star Destroyers nearby and destroy its two deflector shields."  
"Okay."  
"There'll be two other pilots there who will destroy the other Destroyer shields."  
"Right."  
"But as soon as you destroy the deflector shield generators you must let me know and I will destroy it. You must be out of the other way or you might be killed in the explosion."  
"Right."  
"Got it?"  
"Yes, sir."  
"Great. You may go on your way then, Karr."  
It actually hadn't even occurred to Nevin that there were any Super Star Destroyers nearby. He looked around and finally saw three of them fairly close to the base, but not within a range to fire at it.   
"Okay, R2," he said to R2-S2 as he put the ship into maximum speed. "We're going in for the big one."  
R2-S2 made several cocksure beeps and watched as they approached one of the immense Super Star Destroyers, its bright, bluish colours giving a recollection of a Sith Lord's force lightning.   
As they got closer Nevin felt more nervous, but still he was confident that. 


End file.
